MADISON: On a night when it seemed little could go right for progressive candidates and incumbents, the Dane County Medical Marijuana Advisory Referendum exceeded expectations, garnering a final total of 159,408 votes – 75.49% of the total cast. In River Falls, where Alder Bob Hughes worked to get the city’s MMJ Advisory Referendum rolling, the final was Yes by over 68%.

As expected, vote totals for the referendum surpassed those of candidates running on the same ballot. It also did very well in traditional Republican-leaning wards. For example, in the six Dane County wards of current State Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Beaver Dam), the Senator was outpolled in each, demonstrating that medical cannabis support transcends partisan politics.

0001 T ALBION WDS 1-2                        527/340
0008 T CHRISTIANA WDS 1-2                311/270
0012 T DEERFIELD WDS 1-2                 452/345
0043 V CAMBRIDGE WDS 2-3                 379/288
0047 V DEERFIELD WDS 1-4                 626/413
0065 V ROCKDALE WD 1                      66/51

What do these victories mean in light of the reshuffling of the Wisconsin governmental deck? Come January, Wisconsin will have a Republican governor in Scott Walker, who has so far been hostile to medical marijuana. Attorney General JB Van Hollen is returning for another term. Van Hollen sent his deputy to oppose the JRMMA at its hearing. Control of both houses of the State Legislature has shifted to the GOP, and arch-medical marijuana opponent Leah Vukmir succeeded in toppling State Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) and moving up to the State Senate, where she will likely chair a Health Committee. Will the medical marijuana victories even be noticed in the GOP landslide? Will this mean Wisconsin’s medical marijuana brain drain becomes a brain hemorrhage?

We’ll be taking a deeper look tomorrow….

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