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A top Republican Wisconsin lawmaker says President Donald Trump made the \u201cwrong\u201d choice to order the rescheduling of marijuana\u2014which he called a \u201cdangerous drug\u201d\u2014but he says the upside is that research barriers may be lifted in a way that demonstrates medical cannabis can be effectively used in a limited way as an alternative to prescription medications.<\/p>\n
As advocates hold out hope for some form of legalization in the state, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said he thinks \u201cwe are not there\u201d in terms of having enough votes to advance even a medical cannabis bill through his chamber at this point, despite characterizing himself as a supporter of patients\u2019 access to marijuana \u201cfor almost a decade now.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the federal level, however, Vos told CBS 58 that \u201cI think what President Trump did by declassifying\u2014or, you know, reducing the classification of marijuana\u2014was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think marijuana is still a dangerous drug that should never be legalized in Wisconsin. All the data that\u2019s coming out from states who\u2019ve used it\u2014it\u2019s bad for kids, it\u2019s bad for adults, it has long-term consequences that are all negative,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cBut the only positive that is going to come out of that is perhaps we will now be able to do some medical research on medicinal cannabis to say, is it something where we now have studies that can show it\u2019s a better alternative than some kind of a narcotic?\u201d<\/p>\n Speaker Vos, on medical marijuana, says Assembly Republicans “are not there.”<\/p>\n Vos goes on to say President Trump reclassifying marijuana “was wrong.”<\/p>\n “The only positive that is gonna come out of it is, perhaps, we will now be able to do some medical research.” pic.twitter.com\/uQVdPVbkGr<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) December 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Marijuana hasn\u2019t been formally rescheduled yet, as the executive order Trump signed last month simply directed the attorney general to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n Such a reform would let marijuana businesses take federal tax deductions, while freeing up certain research restrictions that apply to Schedule I drugs. But it wouldn\u2019t sanction the possession, cultivation or distribution of marijuana products without Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.<\/p>\n In Wisconsin, meanwhile, with just under a year before voters elect their next governor, the majority of the current candidates have made clear that they will support efforts to legalize marijuana<\/a>\u2014in part to fund public programs such as increased access to broadband.<\/p>\n And while there\u2019s been splintering on the issue between the two chambers of the legislature, a Senate panel recently took up a Republican-led bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R) and Sen. Patrick Testin (R) filed the legislation, and the Senate Health Committee debated the proposal at a hearing in October, taking testimony from patients and other advocates. Members didn\u2019t vote on the bill, but the chair said the panel would be advancing it \u201cfairly quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Vos, for his part, said that month that he hopes lawmakers in the state can \u201cfind a consensus\u201d on legislation to legalize medical marijuana<\/a>. But he added that the cannabis bill filed by his Republican leadership counterpart in the Senate is \u201cunlikely\u201d to pass his chamber because it is \u201cway too broad and way too wide-ranging.\u201d<\/p>\n As the 2025 session was set to get underway, Felzkowski said she was\u00a0\u201choping to have a conversation\u201d in the legislature about legalizing medical marijuana<\/a>\u2014though the Republican Assembly speaker still represented \u201can obstacle,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The Senate leader has\u00a0previously sponsored medical cannabis legislation in past sessions, formally introduced the new legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a Republican candidate for governor of Wisconsin who has since left the race said in July that\u00a0he was \u201copen to considering different opportunities\u201d when it comes to legalizing medical or adult-use marijuana<\/a>\u00a0in the state, though he has provided little in the way of specifics so far.<\/p>\n Current Gov. Tony Evers (D), who supports legalizing cannabis, isn\u2019t seeking re-election\u2014but he said in June that\u00a0if his party can take control of the legislature, the state can \u201cfinally\u201d legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0so that residents don\u2019t have to go to neighboring Illinois to visit its adult-use market.<\/p>\n Separately in June, a poll from Marquette Law School found that\u00a0two in three Wisconsin voters support legalizing marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 17 percentage points higher than the 2013 results.<\/p>\n 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\u2019re still opposed to adult-use legalization.<\/p>\n Underscoring the importance of party control, the state\u2019s Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly this summer rejected another attempt to legalize marijuana,\u00a0defeating amendments to budget legislation that would have ended prohibition in the state<\/a>\u00a0and established new medical and recreational cannabis programs.<\/p>\n Evers has\u00a0routinely attempted to change that policy as part of his budget requests<\/a>\u2014and Democratic leaders have similarly pushed for reform.<\/p>\n Republicans in the legislature\u00a0also cut the marijuana provisions from a state budget proposal in May<\/a>, as they\u2019ve done in past sessions.<\/p>\n Despite Republicans\u2019\u00a0move\u00a0to\u00a0cut\u00a0legalization from the budget legislation,\u00a0party leaders recently acknowledged that the debate over medical marijuana legalization is \u201cnot going to go away,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and there\u2019s hope it can be resolved this session.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone is naive enough to think that marijuana and THC products aren\u2019t 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,\u201d Assembly Majority Leader Rep. Tyler August (R) said in February. \u201cI\u2019m hopeful that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re 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,\u201d Sen. Dan Feyen (R), the assistant majority leader, said at the time. \u201cThe margins are tighter.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been repeated attempts to legalize medical marijuana in the legislature over recent years, including the introduction of legislation from the Assembly speaker that called for a limited program facilitated through state-run dispensaries<\/a>. That proved controversial among his Republican colleagues, however, and it ultimately stalled out.<\/p>\n Evers previewed his plan to\u00a0include marijuana legalization in his budget last January<\/a>, while also arguing that residents of the state should be allowed to propose new laws by putting binding questions on the ballot\u2014citing the fact that issues such as cannabis reform enjoy sizable bipartisan support while the GOP-controlled legislature has repeatedly refused to act.<\/p>\n Previously, in 2022, the governor signed an executive order to convene a special legislative session with the specific goal of\u00a0giving people the right to put citizen initiatives on the ballot<\/a>, raising hopes among advocates that cannabis legalization could eventually be decided by voters. The GOP legislature did not adopt the proposal, however.<\/p>\n Evers said in late 2024 that marijuana reform is one of several key priorities the state should pursue<\/a>\u00a0in the 2025 session, as lawmakers work with a budget surplus.<\/p>\n Days after he made the remarks, a\u00a0survey found the reform would be welcomed by voters<\/a>\u00a0in rural parts of the state. Nearly two thirds (65 percent) said they support legalizing cannabis.<\/p>\n Last May, the governor said he was \u201chopeful\u201d that the November 2024 election would lead to Democratic control of the legislature, in part because\u00a0he argued it would position the state to finally legalize cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been working hard over the last five years, several budgets, to make that happen,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI know we\u2019re surrounded by states with recreational marijuana, and we\u2019re going to continue to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n A Wisconsin Democratic Assemblymember tried to force a vote on a medical cannabis compromise proposal in 2024, 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<\/a>\u00a0on the issue.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0the reform would generate nearly $170 million annually in tax revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n A legislative analysis requested by lawmakers estimated that\u00a0Wisconsin residents spent more than $121 million on cannabis in Illinois alone<\/a>\u00a0in 2022, contributing $36 million in tax revenue to the neighboring state.<\/p>\n Evers and other Democrats have since at least 2024 insisted that they would be willing to enact a modest medical marijuana program<\/a>, even if they\u2019d prefer more comprehensive reform.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Top Wisconsin GOP Lawmaker Says State Isn\u2019t Ready To Legalize Medical Marijuana, Criticizing Trump\u2019s Rescheduling Move<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A top Republican Wisconsin lawmaker says President Donald Trump made the \u201cwrong\u201d choice to order the rescheduling of marijuana\u2014which he called a \u201cdangerous drug\u201d\u2014but he says the upside is that research barriers may be lifted in a way that demonstrates medical cannabis can be effectively used in a limited wayContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":85049,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85050,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85048\/revisions\/85050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
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\nRead More: Top Wisconsin GOP Lawmaker Says State Isn\u2019t Ready To Legalize Medical Marijuana, Criticizing Trump\u2019s Rescheduling Move<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"