WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – A bill to legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin went before committee and the public today for the first time. It was written four years ago by state Senator Mary Felzkowski and is now seeing the light of day.
The bill as it stands only allows for medical use, and only in pill or liquid form, not smoking.
“This is a starting place, not a finishing. And part of having this hearing is we want to work on this legislation over the summer,” Felzkowski said.
Representative Cabral-Guevara is a nurse practitioner and supporter. She regularly sees patients with pain, anxiety PTSD, cancer and other conditions that cross state lines to get relief.
“These are chronic pain people. These are people who have been dealing with chronic pain the last 10, 20 years, from a war injury, or a domestic violence issue, or a car accident issue. This isn’t, you know, I have a sore tooth, I’m going to smoke pot today,” Cabral-Guevara said at the hearing.
Felzkowski has personal reasons to support the treatment. She says conventional medications for stage four breast cancer left her in excruciating pain, and using Oxycontin and Vicodin to live with it. Her oncologist said legalized marijuana would have been another tool in the toolbox to try that might have worked better.
“I remember breaking down in the doctors office, crying that I don’t want to become an addict,” Felzkowski said.
Polls in Wisconsin show a large majority of the population supports legalization for medical use.
“Marathon County had a referendum in 2018 asking if people were in favor of medical marijuana and 85 percent of the folks in Marathon County in that election said yes,” said Rep. Pat Snyder of Schofield.
Felzkowski says she sees hope on a federal level.
“The Senate passed allowing universities to study, and I’m hoping that Congress does too, because that would give us more scientific data to go on that is Wisconsin driven or maybe United States driven,” she said.
Thirty-seven states and d-c have legalized medical marijuana. Snyder says it’s time for Wisconsin to catch up.
“Mississippi was the last state to do it in February of this year, and usually Wisconsin is a trailblazer, but now we’re on the tail end of things as far as getting aboard on things that will help people in their life,” he said.
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