During a debate for a Wisconsin Senate seat, Incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson, and his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, discussed their positions on legalizing marijuana. On October 6th, President Biden announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana and urged all Governors to follow his lead with state offenses.
JOHNSON: “I think it ought to be a state-by-state decision. I think the only thing on a federal basis, doesn't make any sense for where marijuana is legal that we're not able to use a banking system so these marijuana companies have mountains of cash which just leads to a potential for crime. So I can see federal legislation to open up the banking system to those states where you have legalized marijuana. But I would suggest any state should really take a look seriously at the harm being done by by the legalization of marijuana and consider that very carefully.”
