“That artificial state line is not going to keep people from using,” said Guida Brown, executive director of the Hope Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. “I think it’s highly available already, and this will lower inhibitions to trying it, because it’s ‘legal’.”

Brown does not favor legalized marijuana — saying there’s no concrete way to gauge marijuana impairment, similar to a breath test for alcohol — but admits the time has probably come for the legalization of medical marijuana in Wisconsin.

And there may be some incremental movement in that direction. Though Fitzgerald won’t consider any move toward legalizing marijuana, Assembly Majority Leader Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has said he favors medical marijuana with restrictions.

And while Vos said he believes medical marijuana will become legal, he admitted it won’t be soon.

“I want this to become law, but people have to trust that it’s going to be a deliberate process; it’s going to take a while,” Vos said. “We’ve got to convince people that it’s the right idea, and eventually it will become law.”

It’s time for Wisconsin to start moving in that direction, instead of remaining an island in the upper Midwest.

This editorial is reprinted with permission from the Kenosha News.