America’s Dairyland does not currently have any form of either medical or adult-use cannabis. The state has tried and failed at least a couple of times on convening medical cannabis legislation (see here on the latest attempt earlier this year). At the same time, Wisconsin is surrounded by three states that have both medical and adult-use cannabis programs (Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan), with Canada to the north, which legalized cannabis in 2018.
I split my time between Los Angeles and Milwaukee these days (I’m eligible to practice law in Wisconsin), and I often find myself working from my firm’s Milwaukee office depending on the month. Wisconsin is an incredibly interesting state when it comes to marijuana in that it is surrounded by states that have both adult use and medical cannabis legal regimes while it has nothing. Wisconsin’s state government is mainly controlled by Republicans who are anti-cannabis legalization. However, they seem to be alright with the concept of Wisconsin medical marijuana. It will be limited though and if the Republicans’ proposal goes through as presented (we don’t have an actual bill yet), Wisconsin will have state-run dispensaries with state-employed pharmacists.