A measure in the state legislature to decriminalize marijuana is getting some local support. Representative Mark Spreitzer of Beloit says we can all agree putting people in prison for simple possession of marijuana doesn’t work or make sense. He says it merely fills our jails and ruins lives. Representative Deb Kolste of Janesville says the incarceration rate in the U.S. is already disproportionately high considering it has less than 5% of the people, but close to 25 % of the world’s prison population. Kolste says it doesn’t make sense to put people in jail for something not even frowned upon just one state away. When introducing the proposal at the capital Wednesday, Democratic leaders clarified how decriminalization is not legalization. The manufacture or sale of the drug would still be illegal.
