RIPON — “Marijuana: Legalize It or Criticize It?” will be held March 2 at Ripon College. The panel presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Kresge Little Theatre, East Hall, on the Ripon College campus. The talk is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Center for Politics and the People.
The talk will address the best legal status of marijuana in Wisconsin. It will provide a space for a civilized and substantive discussion about the arguments for and against marijuana legalization, both for medicinal and recreational purposes.
Wisconsin State Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R), 12th District, is sponsor of a bill that would create a new state commission to regulate medical marijuana.
A lifelong resident of Lincoln County, she is the owner of C.I.S. Insurance Group, with offices in Tomahawk and Rhinelander. She was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 2020, after having served the Wisconsin State Assembly since 2012.
In the State Assembly, she has served as assistant majority leader; co-chair of the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems; a member of the Health Committee, Forestry, Parks and Outdoor Recreation Committee and Joint Committee on Finance (2 budget cycles); Speaker’s Task Force on Water Quality; Speaker’s Task Force on Alzheimer’s and Dementia; Speaker’s Task
Force on Urban Education; and Speaker’s Task Force on Rural Schools.
She has sponsored numerous budget motions that allocated more funding to rural education, roads and broadband services.
Sheriff Dale Schmidt is president of the Badger State Sheriffs’ Association. He began his career as a patrol deputy with the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office from May 2004 through March 2012. He was then promoted to sergeant and supervised all three patrol shifts. He has served as Dodge County Sheriff since 2015.
He previously was a police officer in the Village of Winneconne, Town of Winneconne and Horicon. He also was a deputy for the Fond du Lac County and Green County sheriff’s offices.
Schmidt is a graduate of Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton and also has taught there as an adjunct instructor for the Law Enforcement Academy. He is a nationally certified Drug Recognition Expert, an Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement Instructor and a Standardized Field Sobriety Test Master Instructor.
He is a strong advocate for proactive law enforcement and problem-oriented policing and prioritizes reducing traffic fatalities resulting from impaired driving. He also advocates for ensuring resources, education, and enforcement options are available to fight the heroin epidemic; and for identifying and reducing human trafficking.
Jay Selthofner is an industrial hemp grower and processor at Heritage Hemp Farm, founder and co-director of the Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Network, and founder/treasurer of Northern Wisconsin NORML.
He is the organizer and promoter of the THC Tour, a traveling expo-style education seminar and public awareness campaign. He has served as Wisconsin ambassador for Americans for Safe Access, secretary and executive director of Wisconsin NORML, a featured presenter at From the Land Festival in Green Lake, and Menominee County coordinator for the 2018 Michigan Ballot Initiative Proposal 1 – Legalize Marijuana Like Alcohol.
