Top Wisconsin GOPer says state is on track for legalization |

A senior Republican lawmaker in Wisconsin indicated Monday that legalizing cannabis in the Badger State is likely inevitable.

Jim Steineke, the majority leader in the GOP-controlled state assembly, said in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio that the state could end cannabis prohibition “eventually.”

“Recreational marijuana, in my opinion, has a much harder road getting through the legislature and eventually being signed into law, but I think we’re moving in that direction,” Steineke said.

Steineke told Wisconsin Public Radio that he supports medicinal cannabis, but his fellow Republicans — who control both houses of the Wisconsin legislature — have been less keen on embracing recreational cannabis than their Democratic counterparts.

Steineke added that the biggest hurdle his peers face when drafting legislation is “writing language narrow enough to be used only for medical purposes.”

While hardly a strong endorsement of legalization, Steineke’s comments signal a little more openness among Republicans to the change in law.

Last year, Steineke’s fellow Republican, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMathieu, dismissed the likelihood of legalization.

“We have no support from the caucus. It’s pretty clear that we don’t have 17 votes in the Medical or Recreational faction [to] legalize,” LeMathieu said at the time.

Wisconsin is one of the last remaining holdout states in the country where neither recreational nor medicinal cannabis is legal.

Polls show that, like much of the country, a majority of Wisconsinites support legalizing cannabis, something Democrats have spearheaded in their push for reform.

Last year, Democratic state senator Melissa Agard introduced a bill legalizing cannabis there.

“Not only will this proposal allow our state to right past wrongs, it will open myriad doors for our farmers and our agricultural sector to participate in a growing industry,” Agard said at the time.

Agard also said, “Wisconsin can no longer ignore the cannabis industry – we are losing millions of dollars and family-support jobs to our neighboring states. Wisconsin is an island of prohibition. The ban didn’t work on alcohol. It didn’t work with margarine, and it doesn’t work when it comes to cannabis.”

“Not only will this proposal allow our state to right past wrongs, it will also open myriad doors for our farmers and agricultural sector to participate in a growing industry,” continued Agard.

The state’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers has also been a strong advocate of legalizing both medical and recreational cannabis.

“The majority of Wisconsinits agree it’s about time our state legalized marijuana,” Evers said on Twitter last year. “In my #BadgerBounceback agenda, I urge our state to join states across the country in legalizing marijuana — a move that would raise more than $165 million annually beginning in 2023.”

Last month, Evers vetoed a law passed by Republicans that would have introduced tougher new penalties for some cannabis convictions.

The governor, who narrowly won the 2018 election, said he opposed the proposal “in its entirety because I oppose creating additional offenses or penalties related to marijuana use.”

“It is widely accepted, and indeed research over the past decade confirms, that marijuana criminalization has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, particularly in Wisconsin where there has long been racial disparities in incarceration rates,” Evers said in his veto statement.

“States across our country — both Democrat- and Republican-controlled — have been and are taking meaningful steps to address elevated incarceration rates and reduce racial disparity by investing in drug use treatment, community re-entry programs, alternatives to… Incarceration, rehabilitation and other data-driven measures are investing, evidence-based practices that we know are essential solutions in reforming our justice system,” the governor continued regarding the issue. “The data and science are unequivocal on this issue, and I applaud lawmakers for having meaningful conversations about judicial reform in Wisconsin.”