A top Republican Wisconsin senator says his caucus is “getting pretty close” to supporting medical marijuana legalization, and he could foresee the GOP-controlled chamber advancing the reform as long as certain regulations were put in place.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) has long been skeptical of legalizing any form of cannabis use, but his latest comments to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel signal that the conservative legislature may finally be positioned to move on the issue this session.
“Our caucus is getting pretty close on medical marijuana,” he said. “A lot of our members, who are maybe at a point where they can vote for it now, they just want to make sure it’s regulated well.”
He added that GOP lawmakers “don’t want people going in because their back hurts and getting medical marijuana. It needs to be cancer pain—you know, prescribed.”
Advocates and many Democratic lawmakers, as well as Gov. Tony Evers (D), have been calling on the legislature go further than a limited medical cannabis program—but LeMahieu’s remarks represent a starting point.
Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D), who has sponsored legalization legislation in past sessions, told the Journal Sentinel that she doesn’t want Wisconsin’s medical marijuana system
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