MARIJUANA MOVEMENT: Will Wisconsin Ever Catch Up?

the Badger State remains one of only 11 without legal recreational or medical marijuana, but prospects for legalization remain cloudy

Tom Giffey

Cannabis legalization in the United States. Data via National Conference of State Legislatures.
Cannabis legalization in the United States. Data via National Conference of State Legislatures. Source.

It's already been more than a decade since two states – Colorado and Washington – kicked off the wave of recreational marijuana legalization in the United States back in 2012. Even before that, medical marijuana had been legalized (or at least decriminalized) in more than a dozen states, beginning with California in 1996.

As of 2025, all but 11 states allow the use of pot for medical or recreational purposes – or both. Among those 11 is Wisconsin (which, it must be noted, is bordered by three states – Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan – where marijuana is legal). And as the new year begins and lawmakers start their work in Madison, that leads to the question of whether Wisconsin will continue to buck the national trend or instead move toward legalization.

While hemp and a variety of its cannabinoid derivatives – including CBD, Delta-8, and THC-A – are allowed in Wisconsin, possessing regular old pot can still get you a hefty fine and jail time under state law.

According to opinion polls, most Wisconsinites would prefer it wasn't this way. In a statewide Marquette Law School Poll conducted last January, for example, 86% of respondents favored legalizing medical marijuana, while 63% supported recreational cannabis.

And yet there's no easy path toward legalization in Wisconsin. Republicans hold the majority in both houses of the state Legislature, but leaders in each chamber differ on how to pursue medical marijuana. According to a Jan. 14 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, Assembly Republicans have floated the idea of establishing state-run dispensaries for medical pot, an idea that has received pushback from their Senate counterparts, who say it would be an expansion of government.

Even if those differences are ironed out, the path for recreational marijuana legalization seems even rockier. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is a staunch opponent of legalizing recreational use, which makes that path a nonstarter (even though bills to do so are likely to be introduced).

While most other states have opened the way for legal pot in one form or another, Wisconsin seems poised to tip in the opposite direction, at least when it comes to some of the beverages, gummies, and other hemp-infused concoctions that have proliferated in recent years.

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers supports marijuana legalization, having included it in three of his state budget proposals over the years. Republican lawmakers removed the pot provisions each time.

Now, Evers has said he's pursuing a different approach: He said in early January that his 2025-27 state budget proposal would create a process for Wisconsin voters to put binding referendums on the ballot. Unlike voters in many states, Wisconsinites don't have this power; instead, ballot measures are crafted only be legislators. "The will of the people should be the law of the land," Evers said in a media release. "Republican lawmakers have repeatedly worked to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that Republicans drafted, and Republicans passed, all while Republicans refuse to give that same power to the people of Wisconsin. And that's wrong." 

Top on the governor's list of potential public-driven referendums would be legalizing and regulating marijuana, both medical and recreational. Of course, giving the public such power would require Republican lawmakers to back Evers' idea, which seems unlikely given the partisan divide.

However, there does seem to be a potential for legislation in one area: regulating THC-containing items. Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers told the Journal Sentinel that they believed age restrictions should be put on the sale of some cannabis-infused products, such as beverages. So while most other states have opened the way for legal pot in one form or another, Wisconsin seems poised to tip in the opposite direction, at least when it comes to some of the beverages, gummies, and other hemp-infused concoctions that have proliferated in recent years.