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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Two things happen when you drive on Highway 41 into Memoninee, Michigan. First, you travel into eastern time, so set your clocks ahead an hour. Second, you drive into a state where recreational marijuana is legal.
No, you cannot legally bring your purchase back into Wisconsin. You’ll be cited and your pot will be confiscated.
And apparently there’s a great deal of cross-border business. How do I know? Because Menominee, Michigan has a population of about 8,000 people. And tomorrow there’s a city ordinance that would limit the number of marijuana dispensary licenses to 9. That’s a phenomenally high number of pot-shops for a small city. The only conclusion that that they do a tremendous amount of out-of-state business.
The same appears to be true in northern Illinois, where “Rockford runs” from Wisconsin are so common that traffic backs up onto Interstate 90 as out-of-staters line up to get into the dispensary parking lot.
Some people argue that it makes no sense for Wisconsin to be a prohibition desert when three states around us have legalized marijuana: Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota. I would tell you that just because those states have landed on the wrong policy, doesn’t mean we should follow them.
Would you want your factory co-worker who drives a forklift to have a marijuana habit? What about the accountant who prepares your taxes? Or the laboror who is putting on your new roof? Or the doctor who will be performing a minor procedure on you tomorrow?
And for those who claim marijuana has medical purposes and helps those with cancer keep their food down, well, I would tell you in Wisconsin that marijuana enforcement does not involve police breaking into people’s homes and arresting those who are smoking. Law enforcement already focuses only on distributors and illegal growers.
The bottom line is this: marijuana diminishes people. Users are never their best selves. Legalization is a step in the wrong direction. Extra scrutiny of cars that travel to and from states with legalized pot in the right choice.
Chris Conley
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