The Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association (ICIA) and its member tribes have agreed to launch a lobbying and campaigning effort to pressure Wisconsin voters and lawmakers to legalize medical access to cannabis, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“Wisconsin is landlocked with a hypocrisy of prohibition,” ICIA founder Rob Pero said following the organization’s second annual Wisconsin Cannabis Industry and Policy Summit.
“The welfare of our communities are at stake while we wait for policy reform to provide clear access to cannabis for our communities in need, including Wisconsin’s veteran population, but also people of all ages who seek relief.” — Pero, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin is one of the few remaining U.S. states where cannabis remains strictly prohibited, even for medical purposes. “There are people who need this medicine, regardless of political affiliation,” Pero said in the report.
The ICIA represents the Lac du Flambeau, St. Croix Ojibwe, and Sokaogon Mole Lake Ojibwe tribes in Wisconsin, and other tribes in Minnesota, Michigan, and South Dakota.
Wisconsin lawmakers this year considered a GOP proposal seeking to establish a heavily restricted medical cannabis program but the bill is likely dead for the year, the report said.
Meanwhile, a study Updated last year found that neighboring Illinois — where adult-use cannabis is legal and regulated — generated at least $36 million in cannabis tax revenue from Wisconsin residents in 2022.
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