The governor of Wisconsin says that, if Democrats take control of the legislature now that new “fair” district maps have been set, the state can “finally” legalize marijuana so that residents don’t have to go to neighboring Illinois to patronize its adult-use market.
In a Sunday speech to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin 2025 Convention, Governor. Tony Evers said, “Republicans should get used to Democrats taking power in Wisconsin,” because the redistricting maps he approved could bring the Democratic party “a Democratic trifecta” with the control of the Assembly Senate and Governor’s office.
It would also allow legislators to break through roadblocks that are currently in place, such as the current conservative legislation, which has prevented progress on several issues. These include parental leave, healthcare expansion and “yes, finally we could legalize marijuana to stop sending all our revenues to my dear friend. [Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D)] He said, “you can find me in Illinois.”
Evers jokingly said, “He has enough.”
“If we want to finally end the obstruction of Madison, we have to get to work—and we can’t wait. “We have to begin today,” said he. If we want to have majorities in the Legislature that can finally accomplish things, our work must begin now.
“We knock on doors, we make the calls, we organize from our kitchen tables to our communities—we fight back and we never stop fighting for what’s right,” the governor said. Win 2026 begins now. We must now go out and win every single vote, in each and every election.
Dianne Hesselbein, Senate Minority leader (D), also touched briefly on this issue during the convention. She said that “we will legalize marijuana” as well as other Democratic priorities if they win a majority of the legislature in the next election.
Evers had proposed a budget for the state that included key provisions, such as plans to legalize or regulate marijuana.
The actions are a repeat of two years ago, when GOP members of the same committee removed proposals to legalize cannabis for recreational and medical use from the governor’s biennial executive budget at that time.
Evers included the latest marijuana legalization plan in his biennial budget request to lawmakers in February, projecting at the time that the change would result in “$58.1 million in revenue in fiscal year 2026-27 and growing amounts in future years.”
In Wisconsin, marijuana is prohibited for medical and recreational purposes.
Legalization proposals would have placed a 15% wholesale excise duty and 10% retail excise on cannabis for recreational purposes. The proposal would also “create a procedure for those serving prison sentences, or who have been convicted for marijuana-related offenses to be able to reduce or repeal their sentences.”
The companion bills that were filed in tandem with the governor’s budget request stipulate that all revenue collected from the proposed cannabis taxes will be deposited into the state general fund.
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Despite Republicans’ move to cut legalization from the budget legislation, party leaders recently acknowledged that the debate over medical marijuana legalization is “not going to go away,” and there’s hope it can be resolved this session.
Tyler August (R), Assembly Majority leader, said: “I’m not sure anyone can be so naive as to assume that THC and marijuana products don’t exist in Wisconsin. These are easily available outside of the state. We need to find a solution to this.” I’m optimistic that we will be able to.”
If medical marijuana is to be called such, it should be treated as a drug. “But the marijuana debate won’t go away,” said Sen. Dan Feyen, the assistant majority leader at that time. The margins have shrunk.
There have been repeated attempts to legalize medical marijuana in the legislature over recent years, including the introduction of legislation from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) that called for a limited program facilitated through state-run dispensaries. It was controversial, though, amongst his Republican peers, and the legislation ultimately died last year.
Evers previewed his plan to include marijuana legalization in his budget in January, while also arguing that residents of the state should be allowed to propose new laws by putting binding questions on the ballot—citing the fact that issues such as cannabis reform enjoy sizable bipartisan support while the GOP-controlled legislature has repeatedly refused to act.
Previously, in 2022, the governor signed an executive order to convene a special legislative session with the specific goal of giving people the right to put citizen initiatives on the ballot, raising hopes among advocates that cannabis legalization could eventually be decided by voters. The GOP-controlled legislature, however, did not approve the proposal.
Evers said in December that marijuana reform is one of several key priorities the state should pursue in the 2025 session, as lawmakers work with a budget surplus.
Days after he made the remarks, a survey found the reform would be welcomed by voters in rural parts of the state. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (65%) said that they supported legalizing cannabis.
Last May, the governor said he was “hopeful” that the November 2024 election would lead to Democratic control of the legislature, in part because he argued it would position the state to finally legalize cannabis.
He said, “We have been hard at work for the past five years and several budgets to achieve this.” I know that we are surrounded by other states who have legalized recreational marijuana. We will continue doing it.
A Wisconsin Democratic Assemblymember tried to force a vote on a medical cannabis compromise proposal last year, as an amendment to an unrelated kratom bill, but he told MEDCAN24 he suspects leadership intentionally pulled that legislation from the agenda at the last minute to avoid a showdown on the issue.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Revenue released a fiscal estimate of the economic impact of a legalization bill from then-Sen. Melissa Agard (D) in 2023, projecting that the reform would generate nearly $170 million annually in tax revenue.
A legislative analysis requested by lawmakers estimated that Wisconsin residents spent more than $121 million on cannabis in Illinois alone in 2022, contributing $36 million in tax revenue to the neighboring state.
Evers and other Democrats have since at least last January insisted that they would be willing to enact a modest medical marijuana program, even if they’d prefer more comprehensive reform.
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Philip Steffan provided the photo.
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