Politics
Wisconsin Senators Hold Hearing On GOP Leader’s New Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill
Wisconsin senators on Wednesday took up a newly filed Republican-led bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state.
Just one week after Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R) and Sen. Patrick Testin (R) filed the legislation, members of the Senate Health Committee debated the proposal at a hearing, taking testimony from patients and other advocates.
An Assembly companion version was also filed by Assemblymember Patrick Snyder (R) and lawmakers, but it has not yet advanced in their chamber.
“Illness does not discriminate. It affects people from all walks of life. There is no doubt that each and every one of us knows someone that has suffered through an illness and struggled to find ways to make it through each day,” Testin said at the hearing, describing how his grandfather used medical cannabis to treat cancer symptoms decades ago. “While there are often medications that doctors can prescribe to help combat these illnesses, many come with side effects that can make living a normal life much more difficult.”
“In some cases, the only option for pain relief is to take opioids on a long-term basis, which can lead to a whole host of other challenges that already afflict our state and our residents,” he said. “However, there is an alternative.”
“Both red and blue states alike have been able to come together and recognize that this is a viable option for patients within their respective states, regardless of the partisan makeup of that that state,” the senator said. “Medicine is never a one-size-fits-all, and it’s time for Wisconsin to join the majority of the country and add another option, which may help patients find relief they need.”
Felzkowski shared her story of overcoming breast cancer, struggling with the side effects of opioids and other prescription medicines she was prescribed and then asking her oncologist what they thought about the idea of legalizing medical cannabis. The doctor told her that while marijuana is not a miracle cure, it’s another tool in the toolbox that could benefit many patients.
“Wisconsin is on an island surrounded by neighboring states that allow the use of medical cannabis products. These products are not for everyone—but for others that use opioids or other medications to treat their health condition, the side effects of these drugs can be debilitating,” the Senate president said. “Someone who suffers from a serious health condition should not have to make the choice to travel to another state or break the law so that they can try an alternative medicine for relief. Unfortunately, this is a position in which we put many Wisconsinites.”
Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R), chair of the Health Committee, said that, as a healthcare provider herself, she’s heard stories about the medical potential of cannabis “all the time.” And while some providers might not want to participate in a medical marijuana program, “there are many that do…because we know our patients are going and purchasing these products to manage their symptoms from other states.”
“I will also say, as someone that does prescribe medications, I would rather my patients be upfront and truthful on what products they’re using to manage their symptoms, than having to guess,” she said. “There are a lot of people that will not come out and be straightforward because they’re afraid of consequences, and I hope that this bill would eliminate that fear that people are using for medicinal purposes to manage their conditions, so that individuals who are prescribing can take that into consideration when thinking of dosing and contraindications.”
Pressed on the lack of employment protections for would-be medical marijuana patients in her legislation, Felzkowski said “everything that’s done in this bill is to hopefully to get it to pass through both houses.”
“I always say if I was queen for a day, I’d probably write a whole bunch of legislation differently,” she said. “But we have to make sure that everybody in our caucuses are comfortable with legislation.”
One witness who testified was Norah Lowe, a 17-year-old with a rare neurodevelopment condition known as Rett syndrome, who spoke to members through computer audio given her associated speech impairment.
“My friends with Rett syndrome who use medical cannabis actually sleep through the night and see extensive relief from painful muscle spasms. Why can’t I get relief from mine?” she asked. “My friends who have access to cannabis see profound improvements in their therapies and communication skills. Why can’t I experience the same types of advancement of skills?”
She was accompanied by her mother, Megan Lowe, who also spoke to the benefits of medical marijuana that she experienced while going through treatment for breast cancer.
“I used it to find relief from my hot flashes, my insomnia, my crippling anxiety, my neuropathy, my restless legs, my itchy skin—the list goes on,” she said. “Cannabis made my cancer treatments and recovery bearable so that I could go back and returning to caregiving for her.”
Wisconsin’s GOP Assembly speaker said earlier this month that he hopes lawmakers in the state can “find a consensus” on legislation to legalize medical marijuana. But he added that the new cannabis bill filed by his Republican leadership counterpart in the Senate is “unlikely” to pass his chamber because it is “way too broad and way too wide-ranging.”
As the 2025 session was set to get underway, Felzkowski said she was “hoping to have a conversation” in the legislature about legalizing medical marijuana this year—though the Republican Assembly speaker still represented “an obstacle,” she added.
The Senate leader has previously sponsored medical cannabis legislation in past sessions, formally introduced the new legislation.
Here are the key provisions of the Senate president’s latest medical marijuana bill.
- Qualifying conditions for patients would include cancer, HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, seizures or epilepsy, glaucoma, severe chronic pain, severe muscle spasms, severe chronic nausea, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic motor or vocal tic disorder, Tourette syndrome and any terminal illness with a probable life expectancy of less than one year.
- Allowable forms of medical cannabis products would include concentrates, oils, tinctures, edibles, pills, topical forms, gels, creams, vapors, patches, liquids and forms administered by a nebulizer. Cannabis in a form that could be smoked would not be allowed.
- Home cultivation would not be allowed.
- Patients could designate up to three caregivers who could purchase and possess medical cannabis products on the their behalf.
- Patient and caregiver registrations would last for two years and could then be renewed. The annual fee would be $20, and people could have their registrations rescinded for being convicted of a felony or for violating certain drug law.
- Dispensaries would be required to employ pharmacists who would need to consult with patients or caregivers and recommend a daily dosage. A patient getting medical marijuana for the first time could get up to a 30-day supply and on subsequent visits could receive up to a 90-day supply.
- Patients’ use of medical cannabis would need to be recorded in the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
- The bill would establish parental rights and housing discrimination protections for medical cannabis patients and caregivers, but it would allow employers to fire or refuse to hire workers based on their use of medical marijuana.
- Patients and caregivers could only possess medical cannabis at their own residences or when traveling between dispensaries and their homes. There would be a $25 civil penalty for failing to carry a registry ID card when possessing medical marijuana or for possessing cannabis at locations other than those specified as being allowed.
- Medical cannabis products would be exempt from sales taxes.
- The state would license cultivation, processing, laboratory and dispensary businesses, subject to certain residency and eligibility requirements and annual fees and penalties for violations.
- A new Office of Medical Cannabis Regulation would be established under the Department of Health Services to oversee the patient and caregiver registry and dispensaries. Its director would be appointed by the governor.
- The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection would oversee and regulate cannabis cultivation, processing and testing.
- Localities would not be able to regulate medical cannabis businesses or restrict their zoning.
Meanwhile, a Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin said in July that he was “open to considering different opportunities” when it comes to legalizing medical or adult-use marijuana in the state, though he has provided little in the way of specifics so far.
On the Democratic side, current Gov. Tony Evers (D), who supports legalizing cannabis, will not be seeking re-election. But he said in June that if his party can take control of the legislature, the state can “finally” legalize marijuana so that residents don’t have to go to neighboring Illinois to visit its adult-use market.
Separately in June, a poll from Marquette Law School found that two in three Wisconsin voters support legalizing marijuana.
The survey found that support for cannabis reform has generally increased over time since the institution first started tracking public opinion on legalization in 2013, with 67 percent of voters now backing the policy change. That’s 17 percentage points higher than the 2013 results.
Democrats are the most likely to favor legalizing cannabis, at 88 percent, followed by independents (79 percent). However, a majority of Republicans (56 percent) said they’re still opposed to adult-use legalization.
Underscoring the importance of party control, the state’s Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly this summer rejected another attempt to legalize marijuana, defeating amendments to budget legislation that would have ended prohibition in the state and established new medical and recreational cannabis programs.
Evers has routinely attempted to change that policy as part of his budget requests—and Democratic leaders have similarly pushed for reform.
Republicans in the legislature also cut the marijuana provisions from a state budget proposal in May, as they’ve done in past sessions.
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.
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“I don’t think anyone is naive enough to think that marijuana and THC products aren’t present in the state of Wisconsin when they are readily available over state lines, so I think we need to come to an answer on this,” Assembly Majority Leader Rep. Tyler August (R) said in February. “I’m hopeful that we can.”
“If we’re going to call it medical marijuana, it needs to be treated like a pharmaceutical. But the marijuana debate is going to be something that is not going to go away,” Sen. Dan Feyen (R), the assistant majority leader, said at the time. “The margins are tighter.”
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. That proved controversial among his Republican colleagues, however, and it ultimately stalled out 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 legislature did not adopt the proposal, however.
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 (65 percent) said they support 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.
“We’ve been working hard over the last five years, several budgets, to make that happen,” he said at the time. “I know we’re surrounded by states with recreational marijuana, and we’re going to continue to do 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 Marijuana Moment 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.
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
