marijuana

Some members of the Milwaukee County Board want to reduce the fine for 25 grams or less of marijuana down to $1. Currently, the fine for that amount ranges from $250 to $500.

Supervisor Sylvia Ortiz-Velez unveiled the proposal at a news conference Tuesday. She cited a recent study that shows disproportionate numbers of people of color are arrested on marijuana charges. 

People will soon be allowed to smoke marijuana in Illinois. The law was passed in May and will take effect in January 2020. That could spark a whole new type of "weed tourism," where Wisconsinites travel south to use the drug.

So, what do people traveling through this state need to know about possessing marijuana or even driving after ingesting it?

There have been lots of arguments made both for and against medical marijuana. But there are flaws in claims made on both sides. That's what researchers at the Wisconsin Policy Forum found with their latest report.

Black people in Wisconsin make up almost 7% of the state population yet are roughly 40% of Wisconsin's prison inmates. Lawmakers and community organizers at a press conference Wednesday presented a bill that would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. The goal: to reduce the number of people of color in jail.

An increasing number of Midwestern states are legalizing marijuana in some form or another. Will Wisconsin do the same? State lawmakers have mixed opinions on the issue.

Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, has been a member of the state Assembly for six years — and that's about how long she's been working on a bill that would fully legalize marijuana in Wisconsin. While she's authored legislation three times, it's never gone anywhere in the Republican-controlled Legislature. But with neighboring states approving recreational cannabis, she feels like it's time to try again.

There's a lot of money being made across the country from the legalization of marijuana.

While weed is still illegal at the federal level, nearly 20 states allow the use of medical marijuana. The District of Columbia and 11 states have legalized the recreational use — Illinois is one. The new law goes into effect in January. It's expected to eventually bring in anywhere between $500 million and $700 million a year. 

Wisconsin’s laws regulating marijuana possession have been a patchwork of municipal ordinances for years. Now, Gov. Tony Evers is hoping to change that.

In his first budget proposal, Evers proposed a state-wide policy decriminalizing marijuana and legalizing its use for medicinal purposes. Still, while Evers presents a clear path forward, there remains a lot of confusion over what his proposal would mean for Wisconsinites. 

Updated at 4:32 p.m.  

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday that his budget will include legalizing medical marijuana, along with decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Evers says possession, manufacturing or distribution of marijuana in amounts of 25 grams or less should be decriminalized.  

On Nov. 6, voters across Wisconsin will head to the polls to vote on whether marijuana should be legalized in 16 Wisconsin counties and two cities. Questions concerning marijuana will range from should it be legalized for medical purposes to recreational use.

Have you ever heard the saying “everything old is new again?” When it comes to the hemp industry in Wisconsin, that old saying is holding true.

Just ask former Milwaukee Alderman Mike McGee Junior and his business partner Maya Mays. They opened their first kiosk selling hemp-based products at Mayfair Mall back in July. Since then, they kiosk has turned into a store and they’ve added three others: 414 Hemp, 262 Hemp, 920 Hemp and 608 Hemp.

When Milwaukee County voters go to the polls this fall, they might see a question about pot. A proposed referendum would gauge how voters stand on the topics of marijuana legalization, taxation, and regulation.

The Milwaukee County Board's Judiciary, Safety and General Services Committee approved adding the following advisory referendum to the November ballot on Thursday:

An analysis of felony second offense marijuana possession in Milwaukee County has found a troubling pattern. Of the 95 stops where no other crime was being committed, 86 percent of the people arrested were African-American.

The number is startling in a county where African-Americans makeup only 25 percent of the population, and the circumstances of some of the arrests seemed questionable.

Some Democratic lawmakers are renewing a push to legalize medical marijuana. They say the move could keep people from using -- and perhaps becoming hooked on -- opioid painkillers. The fate of the proposal is uncertain, though, as long as Republicans control the Legislature.

Democratic state lawmakers trying to gain support to legalize medical marijuana held hearings in five cities this fall. Senator Jon Erpenbach and Representative Chris Taylor wanted to give the public a chance to share their thoughts about the proposal.

Marijuana is a hot topic again in the Wisconsin Legislature. A couple Republican state Senators said Thursday they’ll introduce a bill to legalize possession of CBD oil, a marijuana extract used to treat seizures. At the same time, some Democrats want to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. Only one proposal seems likely to move forward.

As the fine for possessing small amounts of marijuana has dropped in Milwaukee, so to has the number of citations for it.

Over the past few months, the Public Policy Forum has been examining how the city's marijuana laws are enforced, in an effort to understand what they are accomplishing.

Update: Members of the Menominee Nation of northern Wisconsin have voted yes to allowing both recreational and medicinal use of marijuana on their reservation near Shawano.

Tribal leaders announced results of the vote on Friday. The referendums are advisory only, but leaders had indicated they would move forward with drafting an ordinance to allow growing and selling marijuana on tribal land.

Members of a Milwaukee Common Council committee took up a proposal Thursday that could reduce the penalties for first-time offenses for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Advocates say reforms are needed to address disparities in how marijuana laws are enforced and their impact on offenders.

"When you look at the percentage of the population that is African-American versus the percentage of offenders who are actually being picked up by police in Milwaukee and prosecuted, there is a disparity there," says Public Policy Forum president Rob Henken.

It appeared on Tuesday that Milwaukee’s Common Council would reduce the fine for marijuana possession.

Currently, the fine for possessing up to 25 grams is from $250 to $500. Ald. Nik Kovac wants to lower the penalty to from $0 to $50.

Kovac says the fine is unfair to black residents.

“Out of about 1,500 tickets last year, 1,250 were issued to African Americans, in a city that has approximately the same number of African Americans as whites,” Kovac says.