With the death of Wyoming Representative James Byrd’s (D-Laramie County) marijuana decriminalization bill on the Wyoming House floor, those hopeful for more progressive marijuana policies in Wyoming will have to wait.
Byrd’s bill is the latest in a series of state legislation concerned with the substance. Earlier in the session, a bill failed that would have made low THC strains of cannabis legal for prescription to those facing chronic illnesses
“We didn’t expect it to pass,” Christine Christian, executive director of the Wyoming chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) said, “But it did get more votes this year than last year.”
NORML is a donation funded organization works to change marijuana policy in the state through flyers, web campaigns and events like their upcoming “Walk for Weed.”
Christian said that local awareness increased significantly after the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado.
“A great many more are in favor of legalization even compared to three years ago,” Christian said. “A ballot initiative would tell us where everybody stands on it.”
Christian said that Wyoming NORML is working toward getting an initiative on the ballot in 2016, but Wyoming’s complicated legal system and a lack of funding stand in their way. Creating a ballot initiative in the state requires very specific language in order to get approved by the legislature, and hiring a lawyer capable of meeting those requirements could cost upwards of $10,000.
“We’ve been running around in circles for about a year trying to write it to their expectations,” Christian said, “It’s structured this way to keep groups like us from doing what we’re doing.”
Though Christian is still optimistic, State Representative Dan Zwonitzer (R-Albany County) said that voters would not likely be seeing the initiative any time soon.
“We have not had a successful ballot initiative in the last fifty years,” Zwonitzer said, “There’s no chance of it happening.”
While groups like NORML are working toward legalization, other groups are ensuring the issue does not reach the floor. Wyoming Representative Samuel Krone (R-Park County) has an upcoming bill, “Marijuana Impact Study,” that would functionally impose a moratorium on legislation concerning the substance until a yearlong study is completed.
Co-sponsoring the legislation is Representative David Northrup (R-Park County), who would like to see the study’s period extended to three years.
“Legalization in Colorado has definitely produced negative repercussions for our state,” Northrup said, “I don’t think Wyoming needs to be in the same wreck that Colorado is in right now.”
For Zwonitzer, half the issue concerning Marijuana legislation is education.
“There is a lot of misunderstanding in the legislature about how much the average user consumes,” Zwonitzer said, “There is a strong lack of education concerning marijuana.”
Zwonitzer said previous attempts at decriminalization had set the amount allowed for decriminalized possession too high.
“We need to have this discussion,” Zwonitzer said, “I think you’ll see continue to see some form of decriminalization bill every year until we have some type of change.”
