Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers took another swing at legalizing cannabis in his proposed 2025-27 budget and struck out. On May 8, 2025, the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee eliminated marijuana legalization from the governor’s budget proposal. Marijuana regulation was part of the roughly 600 budget provisions eliminated by the committee.
Subject to regulation, legalization under Evers’s proposal and companion bills AB50 and SB45 would have created a medical cannabis program and an adult-use market and permitted residents to cultivate a limited number of cannabis plants for personal use.
Read Marijuana Legalization Proposed Again in Wisconsin: Considerations and Potential Opportunities for a more in-depth look into what the regulatory framework could have looked like in Wisconsin.
What’s Next?
Both Democrats and Republicans have hinted that they will introduce their own cannabis legalization bills this session. Republicans have indicated that their efforts will only focus on regulating medical cannabis.
We will continue to track all things cannabis, hemp, and controlled substances throughout Wisconsin’s legislative session and bring you the updates!
