Wisconsin marijuana activists get lesson in lobbying
Those advocating for marijuana legalization say that despite the Republican-controlled state Legislature, the time is good to lobby for their cause.
“The issue is fresh from a global and national perspective and we want to continue the conversation in the state as well,” said Nate Petreman, who since 2008 has been president of the Madison chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Marijuana rights activists say they are encouraged that the recreational use of the drug for adults became legal this month in Colorado and Washington. More than a dozen other states have decriminalized possession of small amounts, and Massachusetts recently became the 18th state to allow its use for medicinal purposes.
State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison is taking over sponsorship of the medical marijuana bills from Mark Pocan, now a U.S. congressman.
Taylor, who wasn’t at the lobbying session, said she is meeting with advocates to come up with a strategy before introducing the legislation. “I can’t imagine we’re going to wait too long because we have the bill and I think we’re pretty much ready to go,” she said.
Ten people — members of the Madison NORML group and others interested in legalization — attended a planning session at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center on the city’s Near East Side on Sunday in advance of their lobbying day Wednesday at the Capitol.
Shelle Michalak, a former State Assembly staffer, gave the group a primer on how to lobby legislators and will brief others in a second session at 7 p.m. Monday at the Wil-Mar Center.
Medical Cannabis Lobby Day is being planned as a full-day event, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Capitol. Advocates plan to meet at 10 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. on the first floor of the rotunda and then lobby legislators in groups.
“You guys are going to do the most effective type of lobbying, going face to face,” said Michalak, who gave the group a handout titled “Lobbying 101,” which included eight specific tips.
Michalak encouraged the budding lobbyists not to harass legislators or their staff members, and told them that telling stories is an effective tool. “It’s compassion that you want to try to get,” she said.
Karen Kinsley, 54, who attended the session with her husband, Greg, has a story to tell. Kinsley was taking between 12 and 15 Vicodin a day, plus aspirin, to fight back pain caused by scoliosis, she said.
Then she started smoking marijuana, and within a couple of months her pain began diminishing, she said. Now, she can stand for more than 20 minutes.
She takes two pain pills in the morning and smokes marijuana the rest of the day to keep her pain at bay, said Kinsley, noting that her doctor has given her written permission even though there are no medical marijuana laws in Wisconsin.
Greg Kinsley said he believes the lobby day will have a big impact coming at the beginning of the legislative session. He said that the state particularly needs to re-examine the fact that second-offense marijuana possession in any amount is a felony in Wisconsin.
“We can’t be having this stuff on the books when in other states it’s completely legal now,” he said.
SAMARA KALK DERBY | Wisconsin State Journal | skalk@madison.com | 608-252-6439
