Abigail Lowery (D) vs Stephen W. Ratzlaff, Jr (I) vs John Jagler (R)

Republican Assembly Rep. Jagler has been “swayed” to support medical marijuana and now sits on the committee for 2019-20 that medical marijuana bills. As a Republican he did not officially co-sponsor any medical marijuana legislation, but he did express the need for a public hearing on adult use / recreational marijuana and with a little work he could easily be an A+ legislator on medical marijuana and lead the conversation on cannabis reform within the Republican Party.

Holds office State Assembly District 37 (MAP)

Position on Marijuana Legalization:

While he said there is a case to be made for medical marijuana, Jagler does not support full legalization of it. He said he believes it is a gateway drug. Silbernagel took issue with that, explaining that there was no scientific research that backed up that notion.

“I’m open to having discussions, but it’s not time yet on full legalization,” said Jagler, noting the issue was a non-starter in the Legislature.

Position on Marijuana Decriminalization: Unknown

Position on Medical Marijuana:

Jagler said he’d been “swayed” on the issue of medical marijuana, noting that 60 percent of people in his district were in favor of legalizing it for medical purposes.

“That opened my eyes to it,” said Jagler.

Sponsored Legislation: None. Rep. Jagler is a member on the Assembly Committee on State Affairs that handled medical marijuana legislation for the 2019-2020 session. The bill never received a public hearing.

Contact John Jagler at Email: Rep.Jagler@legis.wisconsin.gov Web: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/jagler/Pages/default.aspx Phone: 608-266-9650

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Independent: Stephen W. Ratzlaff, Jr from DeForest. We could not find his contact information/campaign website, only a personal Facebook page and one news article about his announcement of running.

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I spoke to the Democratic candidate Abigail Lowery who provided an early statement to the voters regarding her stance marijuana reform:

“I strongly believe in personal freedom with reasonable regulations as needed. Thus, I support regulating marijuana in the same way we regulate alcohol. Transitioning to this approach with marijuana would have many positive effects on social justice, criminal justice, and the economy.”

Learn more about the campaign of Abigail Lowery at her website https://www.loweryforwi.com/ and by following her campaign on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/LoweryForWI/