For the state of Illinois, a thank you might be in order for its neighbors to the north. A newly released analysis says that Illinois collected millions of dollars in tax revenue from Wisconsin residents who crossed the border to buy legal marijuana. 

The two Great Lakes states border each other––Wisconsin abutting Illinois to the north––but they have very different laws on cannabis.

Illinois legalized recreational marijuana in 2019, and a state-sanctioned adult-use market launched at the beginning of 2020. The state also legalized medical cannabis in 2013.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, is one of the last remaining states where both recreational and medical marijuana are still illegal. 

Democrats in Wisconsin are determined to change that––including one lawmaker who released an analysis last week showing that the state is losing millions in potential tax revenue to Illinois. 

The report from Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau “estimated that $36.1 million of Illinois cannabis tax revenues in fiscal year 2022 were attributable to sales of cannabis made to Wisconsin residents.” 

The analysis “assumes that all sales to out-of-state residents in counties bordering Wisconsin were made to Wisconsin residents, which are estimated to constitute 7.8% of total Illinois cannabis-related tax revenue,” according to the report, which said that of “the sales made in counties bordering Wisconsin, $121.2 million, or 50.6%, of these sales were to out-of-state residents.”

“Relative to marijuana sales statewide, approximately 7.8% of total cannabis sales revenue in Illinois came from sales made to out-of-state residents in counties bordering Wisconsin in calendar year 2022,” the analysis said.

The report came at the request of Democratic state Sen. Melissa Agard, who has championed marijuana legalization proposals in the Wisconsin legislature for years. 

Agard, the Democratic leader in the state Senate, expressed frustration at the findings.

“It should upset every Wisconsinite that our hard earned tax dollars are going across the border to Illinois. This is revenue that could be going toward Wisconsin’s public schools, transportation infrastructure, and public safety. Instead, Illinois is reaping the benefits of Republican obstructionism and their prohibitionist stance on marijuana legalization,” Agard said in a statement last week.

Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature, as they have for more than a decade, which has diminished the chances for legalization. 

Wisconsin Democrats like Agard, and the state’s governor, Tony Evers, overwhelmingly support an end to the prohibition. 

“Republicans’ continued refusal to legalize marijuana is fiscally irresponsible. Wisconsinites paid more than $31 million – just in taxes – to Illinois in 2022. Wisconsin’s loss of potential revenue is even larger if we include taxes paid to Michigan, as well as Minnesota in the near future. Wisconsin is losing out on significant tax dollars that could be used to make our communities stronger, safer, and healthier,” Agard said in the statement. 

“We are an island of prohibition and the people of our state are hurting because of it. As seen in our neighboring states, legalizing marijuana for responsible adult usage will generate significant revenue for our mainstreets, safely regulate the existing illicit market, reinvest in our agriculture and farming heritage, support entrepreneurship, and address the massive and egregious racial disparities from marijuana prohibition,” Agard continued. 

“The fundamental aspect of our job as legislators is to listen to the people we represent. The people of Wisconsin have been asking the legislature to take up common sense measures that will push our state forward. We know that legalizing cannabis for responsible adult use is wildly popular among Wisconsinites, including the majority of Republicans.”

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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Friday announced dozens of new pardons, including nine for individuals previously convicted for cannabis-related offenses.

“There is power in redemption and forgiveness, especially for folks who’ve been working to move beyond their past mistakes to be productive, positive members of their communities,” Evers said in a statement. “I’m grateful for being able to give a second chance to these individuals who’ve worked hard to do just that.”

Evers, the first-term Democrat, has now “granted more pardons during his first three years in office than any other governor in contemporary history,” according to a release from his office, which said that he has granted a total of 498 pardons since taking office in 2019.

The nine individuals previously busted for pot-related offenses who received a pardon on Friday include Danielle Arrigo, who “was 22 when she twice sold marijuana to a confidential informant,” and “now resides in Burlington with her daughter and has earned her associate degree.”

There was also Jeremy Busch, who “was pulled over for suspected drunk driving” 22 years ago when “police discovered he had been drinking and smoking marijuana.” Busch was 18 at that time.

“Now 22 years later, he resides in Genoa City and has obtained an associate and bachelor’s degree in the fields of civil engineering and architecture, graduating magna cum laude,” according to the governor’s office.

Per the Friday announcement from Evers’s office, the following individuals with marijuana-related convictions were also pardoned: “Christina Darby was 22 when officers found marijuana in her home. She has since moved to California with her children, earned an associate degree, and works as a property manager.”; “Gary Davis, Jr. was around 20 years old when he was found in possession of marijuana and other controlled substances. Three decades later, he now resides in Madison and has worked as a youth/juvenile counselor with local social services organizations.”; “Henry Hong was 20 when he sold a controlled substance and was also found in possession of marijuana and a stolen pistol. He now resides in Raeford, North Carolina, where he owns a restaurant and has earned a master’s degree.”; “John Jezuit was a teenager when he punched someone while on probation for selling marijuana. Nearly two decades later, he now resides in Madison and has earned his bachelor’s degree in social welfare.”; “Travis Nelson was 18 when he sold marijuana to a confidential informant. He now resides in Denmark with his family and founded his own trucking business over 13 years ago.”; “Lawrence Riche was 20 when officers found marijuana in his residence, and several years later, he was again found with marijuana, controlled substances, and firearms. Now 40 years later, he resides in Menomonee Falls, has remained sober, and has maintained long-term employment as a steamfitter.” 

As the governor’s announcement on Friday explained, a pardon “does not expunge court records,” but it is “an official act of forgiveness that restores rights lost when someone is convicted of a felony, including the right to serve on a jury, hold public office, and hold certain professional licenses.”

For Evers, who is up for re-election this year, the pardons are consistent with repeated calls for cannabis reform in the Badger State. Last year, Evers’ budget proposal included a plan to legalize medical and recreational cannabis use, both of which are against the law in Wisconsin.

In February, Evers vetoed a Republican-backed measure that would have instituted new penalties in Wisconsin for manufacturing and distributing cannabis or resin by butane extraction.

“It is widely accepted, and, indeed, research over the course of the last decade confirms, that marijuana criminalization has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, especially in Wisconsin where have long-standing racial disparities in incarceration rates,” Evers said in his veto statement at the time.

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A measure that would legalize medical cannabis in Wisconsin has apparently reached the end of the line. 

Republican lawmakers, who hold the majority in the state legislature, “allowed a Capitol debate on legislation that would legalize marijuana use, but the step forward for proponents won’t result in a new cannabis law in Wisconsin anytime soon,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

According to the newspaper, a medical cannabis bill got a hearing at the state capitol in Madison on Wednesday that was “scheduled weeks after GOP leaders concluded the Legislature’s work for the year—prompting some Democrats who have long supported legalization to accuse Republican bill authors of using the hearing as a ‘political ploy’ in an election year.”

The bill was authored by a GOP state senator who also leads the committee whose medical cannabis advocacy stems from her experience with breast cancer.

“All of those drugs have severe side effects, some that I realize yet today, which is fine. I mean, I’m alive. But if there was a way that a natural product could have helped me with that?” the senator, Mary Felzkowski, said at Wednesday’s hearing, as quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“When you have a prescription drug that has a horrific side effect, then you’re taking a drug to counteract the side effect … it was unreal. I mean, it’s almost like I went through six months of a fog,” she added.

But the bill was seemingly dead on arrival, with the Journal Sentinel reporting that it “has little support in the state Senate and virtually no chance of advancing, where the GOP leader has said he won’t support such legislation unless the Food and Drug Administration approves it as a prescription drug.”

Cannabis policy has become a divisive issue in the Wisconsin legislature this year. In February, the state’s Democratic governor Tony Evers vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have imposed stricter and distinct penalties for manufacturing and distributing cannabis or resin by butane extraction.

Evers, who has been vocal in his calls to legalize cannabis for all adults, said the bill was “another step in the wrong direction.”

“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to creating additional criminal offenses or penalties related to marijuana use,” Evers, who is up for re-election this year, said in his veto statement at the time. 

“State across our country—both Democrat and Republican-controlled alike—have and are taking meaningful steps to address increased incarceration rates and reduce racial disparities by investing in substance use treatment, community reentry programming, alternatives to incarceration, rehabilitation, and other data-driven, evidence-based practices we know are essential solutions to reforming our justice system,” the governor added. “The data and the science are clear on this issue, and I welcome the legislature to start having meaningful conversations around justice reform in Wisconsin.”

Neither medicinal nor recreational pot is legal in Wisconsin.

For now, with Republicans controlling the legislature, outright legalization appears unlikely. But in a moment of candor, one top GOP lawmaker in the Badger State recently suggested that such reform might be inevitable.

“Recreational marijuana, I think, has a much tougher path to get through the legislature and eventually signed into law, but I do think we’re heading in that direction,” Jim Steineke, the majority leader in the state assembly, said last month. 

But last year, Steineke’s counterpart in the state Senate, Majority Leader Devin LeMathieu, said that legalization is a nonstarter in the GOP-controlled legislature.

“We don’t have support from the caucus. That’s pretty clear, that we don’t have 17 votes in the caucus for medicinal purposes or recreational purposes [to] legalize it,” LeMathieu said then.

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Calling it “another step in the wrong direction,” Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers last week vetoed legislation that would have created new, stiff penalties for certain cannabis convictions. 

The first-term Democrat vetoed a Republican-supported bill on Friday that would have established harsher and separate penalties for manufacturing and distributing cannabis or resin by butane extraction.

“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to creating additional criminal offenses or penalties related to marijuana use,” Evers said in a statement. 

 Evers cited “state after state” that has enacted cannabis reform in recent years––from the end of pot prohibition to decriminalization––as well as a 2019 poll that found almost 60 percent of Wisconsinites in favor of legalizing cannabis for recreational use.

“It is widely accepted, and, indeed, research over the course of the last decade confirms, that marijuana criminalization has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, especially in Wisconsin where have long-standing racial disparities in incarceration rates,” Evers said, pointing to a 2020 report issued by the American Civil Liberties Union that showed Wisconsin is one of the worst in the United States when it comes to racial disparities stemming from cannabis possession.

“State across our country—both Democrat and Republican-controlled alike—have and are taking meaningful steps to address increased incarceration rates and reduce racial disparities by investing in substance use treatment, community reentry programming, alternatives to incarceration, rehabilitation and other data-driven, evidence-based practices we know are essential solutions to reforming our justice system,” the governor continued regarding the issue. “The data and the science are clear on this issue, and I welcome the Legislature to start having meaningful conversations around justice reform in Wisconsin.”

The bill was passed by Wisconsin lawmakers late last month. It would have instituted a maximum $1,000 fine or six months in prison for the butane-extracted weed. 

Republican lawmakers in the Badger State began discussing the proposal last year. One of the bill’s supporters, GOP Representative Jesse James said the legislation was about safety.

“Growing marijuana in your home is not going to cause an explosion,” James said in testimony supporting the bill. “It could cause a fire if you don’t properly take care of your lamps and everything like that. But this process in and of itself, it’s almost similar to a meth lab.”

But others, like Democratic Representative Kristina Shelton, wondered if the bill would present problems down the line in Wisconsin. 

“My concern is, if and when we—and I will say when because I believe that we will eventually legalize marijuana, I know not everyone agrees with me, but I’m going to say when. …When we legalize marijuana, if we were to pass this bill… would this bill prohibit a closed-loop system that would be considered safe by professionals, using professional-grade equipment?” Shelton said last year.

In his veto statement last week, Evers claimed that the legislation “would simply be another step in the wrong direction.”

The veto was hardly a surprise, given Evers’ support for medical and recreational cannabis—both of which are illegal in Wisconsin. A year ago, his office announced its intention to include a recreational cannabis proposal in its budget for 2021 through 2023. 

“The majority of Wisconsinites agree: it’s time our state legalized marijuana,” Evers said on Twitter at the time. “In my #BadgerBounceback agenda, I’m calling for our state to join states across the nation in legalizing marijuana—a step that would generate more than $165M annually starting in 2023.”

Evers said in a statement last year that states “across the country have moved forward with legalization, and there’s no reason Wisconsin should be left behind.” 

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