|
Many counties in Wisconsin have essentially decriminalized the possession or sale of marijuana, and relatively few people who are charged criminally in other counties are ever incarcerated. More than half of Wisconsin’s counties — including some with more than 100,000 residents — had no more than 20 marijuana-only criminal charges in 2022. Some counties had none at all.
There are approximately 5.8 million people in Wisconsin and more than 830,000 use marijuana, also known as cannabis, each year. But in 2022, only 2,289 individuals were charged with a cannabis offense and had committed no more serious crimes.
It is increasingly rare for such a charge to result in incarceration. Only 16 Wisconsinites were sentenced to prison — by definition more than a year in jail — for a cannabis-only criminal offense in 2022. Another 294 were sentenced to less than a year in jail. That means only 13.5% of all cannabis charges and 11.3% of possession offenses resulted in time in a prison or jail cell.
Wisconsin is seriously considering proposals that would allow the medical use of cannabis — a step that has preceded adult-use legalization in other states. A few years ago, a Badger Institute report explored how frequently Wisconsin was enforcing its law prohibiting marijuana. In this report, we wanted to provide Wisconsin’s leaders and citizens with a more comprehensive analysis conducted after the pandemic and legalization in more neighboring states.
The Badger Institute worked with Court Data Technologies — a Madison firm that analyzes Wisconsin court data — to compile data on the number of charges being brought for cannabis-only offenses and their sentencing outcomes.
| 
