Politician Info
B Jessica King (D - WI) LEGALIZE, TAX, AND REGULATE DECRIMINALIZE MEDICAL USE

King is a former Oshkosh Common Council member and Deputy Mayor, as well as Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing District 18 from August 2011 to 2013.   She did not author, co-author, co-sponsor any legisaltion at the state level to reform marijuana laws in Wisconsin.

Biography

My family has called Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District home for 5 generations. My grandfather was a machinist in Fond du Lac, and I come from a long-line of dairy farmers. I spent some quality time as a teenager running grain sweeps and working in scale houses. These experiences helped build my work ethic.

My father was a 100% service-connected disabled Navy veteran, and my parents met and fell in love while learning to adapt to disabilities. When I was 15, my parents were both hospitalized, and I was transitioned into the Fond du Lac County foster care system. I know how our foster care system works from the inside.

I graduated from St. Mary Springs High School at 17 and worked 3rd shift at a manufacturing plant in Rosendale, WI. Working in a factory gave me the inspiration to attend a University of Wisconsin Oshkosh preview day, and I decided to pursue a college degree. I was fortunate to have received GI Bill benefits from my parents along with PELL grant assistance and federal work study benefits. I know just how important community support matters in our society.

Why I Became A Lawyer

As a lawyer, I have been an advocate for local people and small businesses when they need it most. I have fought for local families as they struggled to maintain their homes and farms during the foreclosure crisis, and I represented small businesses and local families during the Great Recession in their efforts to financially reorganize.

My experience resolving conflicts between debtors and creditors resulted in my selection by the US Department of Justice to serve on the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee panel for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. This gave me an inside view of what people go through when they suffer financial ruin.

Position on Marijuana Legalization

2020 Candidate Questionnaire: I believe states should be able to craft the legislation that allows for personal possession and private use for those over the age of 21. I believe states should have the ability to tax and regulate cultivators through the supply chain to dispensary sales. I believe communities should have the ability to prohibit use based on public place, such as streets or parks, in any motor vehicles, on school grounds, with the exception of medical users, etc. I would like to see simplified regulation to ensure that Wisconsin farmers are able to grow cannabis to build a local and regional supply chain to expand the rural economy.

Position on Marijuana Decriminalization

2020 Candidate Questionnaire: I support the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884 / S. 2227) that removes marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, thus decriminalizing the substance at the federal level and enabling states to set their own policies.  The bill would also retroactively allow for federal expungement of all past and pending convictions for marijuana possession. Under the MORE Act, landlords and employers would be prohibited from discriminating against a potential tenant or job applicant based on their criminal record involving marijuana.

Position on Medical Marijuana

2020 Candidate Questionnaire: I believe that marijuana has a viable medical use and should not be included in Schedule 1. I would support legislation allowing physicians the ability to prescribe marijuana as a medically necessary treatment option. Physicians should be able to determine the level of THC necessary for treatment of medical conditions based on a person's history, along with the intensity and severity of their illness.

Comments

Campaign Website: I support removing marijuana from the U.S. DEA’s schedule 1, increasing the allowable THC content of industrial hemp to 1 percent, and adopting policies and regulations that ensure the market for cannabis is accessible to family farmers.  

The current administration is creating unfair advantages for large companies and monopolies instead of favoring small business farmers.

Further, it’s time to allow cannabis and cannabis-related businesses that are state regulated to have access to the normal banking system.

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