“People in Portage County should have say.” – District 2 representative Chris Doubek

By Joe Bachman
Editor

STEVENS POINT — This November, Portage County residents could be asked if they want medical marijuana to legal in Wisconsin.

Health and Human Services officials voted to place a referendum on legalizing use of marijuana for medicinal purposes on the ballot for the Nov. 6 election, which would have to be approved by the County Board. The move comes in light of the continued opiate epidemic, and contributes medical marijuana as a viable treatment option to help curb opiate and prescription drug addition in Portage County.

The measure passed unanimously.

Well over 20 spoke out in favor of passing the measure, with not a single resident, including a single board member, speaking out against. Residents spoke to officials and told stories of marijuana alleviating chronic pain, shrinking cancerous tumors, and treating symptoms of everything from PTSD, anxiety, ALS, Krohns, shingles, seizures, and much more.

This included the support from various farmers, veterans, and nurses.

“I really think that this should at least be considered,” said Wisconsin Farmers Union representative Tommy Enright. “We need to give people a choice.”

District 9 Alder Mary McComb spoke out in favor of the measure, and urged members to listen to the people.

“Let’s put this on the ballot in Portage County and listen to the voices of the people.” said McComb.

Ben Kollock is a cancer survivor that was diagnosed in 2014, and spoke out in favor of legalizing medicinal use.

“I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority in Portage County would be in favor of medical marijuana.” said Kollock.

As of 2016, a statewide poll reflected that 59 percent of Wisconsinites are in favor of fully legalizing marijuana, and regulating it like alcohol. 30 states have legalized cannabis, and more Midwestern states, such as Michigan, Minnesota, and others are expected to follow the trend if they haven’t already.

In addition, an American Legion poll revealed at 82 percent of veterans are in favor of such legalization. This includes local veteran Tim Zimmerman.

“The whole question of whether or not we should add medical cannabis to the referendum is pointless, because we know that we should,” said Zimmerman. “…as a community, as a state, as a nation, we see the benefits of cannabis if we put it side by side with opiates. Let’s do this.”

Mid-State Technical College nursing student Denise Heimstead pointed out that evidence for the benefits of marijuana use are large in number. Since 2000, over a dozen studies from the University of the California in San Diego revealed that cannabis may be useful under certain conditions. This echoes additional studies that come back with similar results.

“There is medical evidence that cannabis is helpful for chronic pain.” said Heimstead, who listed studies and statistics to support her statements.

Marijuana currently stands as a Schedule I drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. However, according to two studies published by Journal of the American Medical Association, medicinal marijuana in many cases reduced the needs for patients to use opiates for pain.

It is of note that that this referendum doesn’t make medical marijuana legal in Portage County, but simply recommends to the state that residents wish to see this change in the law. Seven other counties have adopted a similar measure for November elections, including Milwaukee, Marathon, Dane, Brown, La Crosse, Rock, and Sauk Counties.

Health and Human Services member Bob Gifford posited that such legalization will not only benefit those in need of the medication, but lower prescription drug costs for many others. It will go to a final vote on Wednesday, Aug. 15 at the County Board meeting.