On October 17th, Racine will be holding a special election for mayor. Here is where the two candidates stand on cannabis law reform.

Alderman Sandy Weidner has been in office for 17 years and did sign the Racine Green Party’s petition to decriminalize possession of 25 grams of cannabis to a $1 fine and a warning within the city limits. She was one of the two candidates of the six running during the primary to reply to SE WI NORML’s questionnaire regarding cannabis law reform. She voiced opposition for legalizing and possessing cannabis, however she did voice support for medicinal and industrial uses of hemp and the benefits hemp could have to Wisconsin’s agricultural economy.

See full answers here.

State Rep Cory Mason has been in office for 11 years and he did not sign the Racine Green Party’s petition to decriminalize possession of 25 grams of cannabis to a $1 fine and a warning within the city limits. He did co-author bill AB409, which decriminalizes up to 10 grams and did say he was in support of Senator Cory Booker’s decriminalization bill. However, according to Cannabadger’s article last year, he doesn’t think that cannabis arrests are a priority. He is not a sponsor of the state medical use bill AB482 and he did not respond to SE WI NORML’s questionnaire regarding cannabis law reform.

On September 19th, Racine will be holding a primary election for mayor. The top two candidates with the most votes will advance to the general election in October. Southeastern Wisconsin NORML is endorsing Fabi Maldonado for mayor of Racine. If you live in Racine it’s very important that you vote for Fabi. This will likely be a very close race, and a couple dozen votes could very likely mean the difference between victory or defeat. If you know someone who lives in Racine, please urge them to vote for Fabi Maldonado on September 19th.

Fabi has demonstrated a strong commitment to ending the injustice of cannabis prohibition. As co-chair of the Racine Green Party, Fabi lead an effort to lower the fine for cannabis possession in Racine to just $1, collecting over 5,200 signatures for the initiative in 60 days. The current government in Racine ended up disqualifying the ballot initiative on a technicality, but as mayor, Fabi will continue the effort to reduce cannabis arrests in the city and end the injustices of cannabis prohibition upon the community.

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The Village of West Milwaukee is trying to pull some shenanigans on us. At the village board meeting, the board unanimously voted to reject the petition, on the advice of the village attorney, who told them that the ordinance we are attempting to pass is in conflict with state law. This action of the village board is illegal, in violation of Wisconsin Statute 9.20(4) which gives the village board only two options at this point: either pass the ordinance as-is, or put it on the ballot.
We have attempted to contact the village attorney to resolve the issue, but they have not responded to us. After some research, it appears that we can file a civil lawsuit against the village, seeking what is called “mandamus”. Mandamus is when the courts compel the village to perform its mandatory duty.

Such a lawsuit will likely incur a cost, so we are still hoping to resolve the issue with the Village of West Milwaukee outside of the court system.

The following is the email I just sent to the village board, the village clerk, and the village attorney. It goes into detail about why the village board does not have the authority to make the decision it did, and what we plan to do to remedy the situation.

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We have a couple big updates regarding our local decriminalization initiatives!

West Milwaukee

We just received word last week that we collected enough signatures in West Milwaukee to move our $5 decriminalization initiative forward! We turned in 209 signatures, and the village found that 205 of them were valid, well more than the 189 we required. The ordinance now moves to the village council, where they have only two options:

1. Enact the ordinance right way; or
2. Put the ordinance on the ballot for the people to vote on

We are confident that the ordinance will pass if brought to a vote of the people of West Milwaukee, and we are prepared to Get Out The Vote for the initiative if it does end up on a ballot. But, we would rather the council pass the ordinance right way so the people of West Milwaukee can benefit from the reduced penalty for cannabis possession as quickly as possible.

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In keeping with tradition, the 7th Annual Milwaukee Marijuana March will be held on the first Saturday in May: Saturday May 6th at Gordon Park! We will be one of hundreds of cities around the world marching for an end to marijuana prohibition!

Meet up at 3:30 at Gordon Park (1321 E Locust St, Milwaukee). We will have a couple guest speakers to get you energized, then we’ll start marching at 4pm.

In past years, the Milwaukee Marijuana March has attracted thousands to speak out against marijuana prohibition. Let’s make this year the biggest yet and send a powerful message in these times of change, that marijuana prohibition needs to end!

Bring signs, noise makers, and all of your friends! This will be a protest against the injustice of prohibition that will be heard all the way to Madison!

RSVP on Facebook

Introducing SE WI NORML’s Decriminalization Initiatives! As you may know, the Wisconsin constitution does not allow state-wide ballot initiatives, which is how legalization was passed in Colorado, Washington, California, etc. However, Wisconsin law does allow ballot initiatives to change ordinances in cities and villages in the state.

In order to get an ordinance vote on the ballot, it is required to collect signatures equal to 15% of the number of people within that city or village who voted in the last governor’s election, and those signatures must all be collected and turned in within 60 days.

SE WI NORML is targeting two local villages for new ordinances. We cannot legalize cannabis within just a village or city (the state police would arrest everyone who tried to sell or openly possession cannabis), so we’re doing the most we possibly can: lowering the fines for possession (currently as much as $2000) to only $5!

At 6pm on January 31st, (Facebook event) SE WI NORML will be meeting at Closet Classics (1000 E North Ave, Milwaukee) to plan and discuss these initiatives.

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On December 8th, 2016, Southeast Wisconsin NORML hosted a legalization celebration at Bremen Cafe in Milwaukee. Tons of people turned out to celebrate the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in 8 states that happened on November 8th. This was a huge win for the fight against marijuana prohibition and the perfect time to celebrate with great music and conversation.

Thanks to our artists KJ, Miles Lamensky, Chalice in the Palace, Vladimir Gluten, Dela and Jesse Guten for coming out to rock out for the cause.

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