Medical Marijuana bill unveiled by Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) -Republican lawmakers unveiled a highly-restricted plan to legalize medical marijuana in the state on Monday.

Action 2 News was first to report many of these details on Friday. Now, we’re learning how the proposed system will work for those eligible to receive medical cannabis.

If the proposed bill makes it through the Assembly and Senate as is, establishing a State Medical Registry for marijuana will be the first step in getting the program up and running.

Here’s how it would work for a select group of eligible patients suffering from one these several illnesses you see on the screen right now:

For people with illnesses like cancer, ALS, epilepsy, PSTD and people with terminal illnesses with life expectancy of less than one year, instead of getting a prescription, a patient would first be diagnosed by a doctor. Then the patient could bring the diagnosis documentation to one of the five, state-run dispensaries. A state pharmacist will then decide dosage based on symptoms and needs.

As we reported, there will not be smokeable options. Instead, creams, pills, nebulizers, gummies and tinctures. which is a concentrated liquid form of cannabis, the entire process will be controlled by the state, from growing, to processing to dispensing it to those who are eligible.

“To get this up and running will take some funding, once up and running, should be self-sustainable, it will have fees and everything appropriate to make sure it continues to run, but on the front end, it will take some direct funding and that will be in a separate bill to fund the program as long as we get agreement from the Senate,” said Rep. Shae Sortwell, a Republican from Two Rivers.

The assembly hopes to host a couple hearings in the next few weeks and pass the measure by the end of February. They are hoping the senate takes the bill up quickly too. Governor Tony Evers has already indicated he would likely support the limited GOP bill, although he and other Democrats are in favor of full legalization.

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