On Tuesday, September 27th, Rep. Scott Allen (R – Waukesha) hosted a community engagement night at the Waukesha Public Library on the topic of marijuana and an audience of 20 gathered, including students from nearby Carroll University.
Welcoming an audience with various perspectives on the topic, Rep. Allen began by thanking all those who came for their interest in making Wisconsin a better place. He then spent 20 minutes addressing some of the current research on marijuana before finishing with some discussion on public policy considerations.
“I believe that legalizing medical marijuana is not the best policy at this time,” concluded Rep. Allen. “To legalize a drug without first proving its efficacy and ensuring its safety is, frankly, unwise. The next step should be the reclassification of marijuana federally so that it can be properly studied in order to provide clear evidence to build safe and effective public policy.”
In the comments and questions afterwards, there was a lot of agreement that good research should be driving the discussion. Rep. Allen shared that he will continue to look at new research as it emerges and invited constituents to share academic, peer-reviewed articles.
A video recording of the speech is posted on YouTube and available at https://youtu.be/KQuYcvqB28k.
