Thomas Tiffany

Crowley supports legalizing marijuana and funneling the tax revenue to education, health care and public safety.

Tiffany has said he wouldn't fully legalize marijuana but supports a medical program to serve veterans and those with chronic pain.

As county executive, Crowley signed an ordinance that brought the fine for possessing 25 or fewer grams down to $1.

Both candidates appear concerned about a pending federal ban that stands to decimate the hemp industry in Wisconsin.

It's become a perennial question in Wisconsin politics: Will the state legalize marijuana or create a medical program?

Wisconsin borders three states with legal recreational cannabis – Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota – and Democrats argue the state is losing millions in tax revenue.

Some Republicans in the state Capitol have attempted in recent years to introduce a medical program, but their efforts have never gone far.

Meanwhile, hemp businesses in Wisconsin are bracing for a ban, now pushed to December, that could remove the majority of hemp products from shelves unless Congress reaches an agreement on regulations.

Support for legal marijuana has grown from 50% in 2013, when the Marquette University Law School first polled on the issue, to 67% in 2025. Voters are even more supportive of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

While Democratic nominee David Crowley has been outspoken in support of legalizing marijuana and using the tax revenue, Republican nominee Tom Tiffany has rejected full legalization but supports a medical program, a policy recently added to his website.

Here's what else to know about the candidates' stances on marijuana, the pending federal hemp ban and more. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sent the same list of questions to both campaigns. Crowley's campaign sent a response to each question, while Tiffany provided a statement about the topic.

Crowley supports full legalization, using tax revenue

In a statement, Crowley said he supports legalizing recreational marijuana "from an economic and personal health perspective."

"Wisconsin is falling behind and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue as residents cross state lines to purchase legal products and pay taxes in other states," he said. "Legalization would allow us to regulate the market, set safety standards, and direct revenue toward priorities like education, health care and public safety."

Asked whether Wisconsin should have restrictions on age and possession amounts, and what they should be, Crowley didn't provide specifics but said "we will work with our federal partners and state legislature to implement laws that legalize marijuana in a responsible way that works for Wisconsin."

Crowley didn't suggest a number for the tax levy he'd like to see applied to cannabis products, but he helped author a 2019 legalization proposal in the state Assembly that would have applied a 10% tax to retail sales and a 15% tax on transfers from producers to processors. That bill also set a minimum age of 21.

Tiffany's statement didn't address full legalization but cited his support for more research.

"I have supported additional research into marijuana in Congress, and I believe that research will help guide further decisions," Tiffany said.

Tiffany supports medical program, voted for more research

Tiffany has expanded the policy section of his website after the Aug. 11 primary, where he now expresses support for "legalizing medical marijuana in Wisconsin through a responsible program that gives veterans, those suffering from chronic pain and other patients access to the treatment they need."

"At the same time, we must have strict age requirements, responsible oversight and strong protections to keep marijuana out of our schools and away from children," Tiffany's website reads, which he repeated in his statement to the Journal Sentinel.

In comparison, Crowley's website makes no mention of marijuana or cannabis policy as of Sept. 9, but Crowley's social media accounts have promoted a video of him discussing his stance in which he says "stupid people who are in office" have prevented Wisconsin from legalizing marijuana.

Tiffany didn't cosponsor Democratic-led bills that would have created a medical marijuana program in Wisconsin during his time in the state Legislature, or a version introduced by Republicans in January 2020, a few months before he resigned in May after winning his congressional seat in a special election.

At a UW College Republicans event in February, Tiffany said he wouldn't fully legalize marijuana, according to the Daily Cardinal student newspaper. He has called for more research on marijuana and voted in 2022 for a bipartisan law in Congress that removed barriers for researchers studying the medical uses of marijuana.

"I think it's important to know the impact on the brain, especially amongst young men 18 to 25 as the brain is still developing," Tiffany told conservative radio host Jay Weber in July. "For example, our veterans with PTSD, I think there's real possibilities there. I'm open to legalizing it for them and medicinal use."

In 2021, Tiffany was one of two Wisconsin Republicans who voted against the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which seeks to give banks a safe harbor to provide financial services to licensed cannabis businesses.

In a 2024 Marquette poll, 86% of Wisconsin voters thought medical marijuana should be legal with a doctor's prescription in Wisconsin. That included 78% of Republicans, 84% of independents and 95% of Democrats.

Crowley also supports a medical marijuana program and said Wisconsinites should have access "if doctors decide that’s the best course of treatment for their patients."

"This is personal to me; my mother had to take prescription medication to help manage her pain," he said. "Over time, the medicine she took ended up in kidney failure, something that may have been avoidable if she had access to medical marijuana."

Crowley lowered fine for possession to $1 in Milwaukee County

In 2021, Crowley signed a Milwaukee County ordinance change that reduced the penalty for marijuana possession of 25 grams or less to no more than $1, down from about $275, though state-required court costs add to the total amount.

As a state representative, Crowley coauthored other bills that sought to decriminalize 28 grams or fewer of marijuana, a proposal for an advisory referendum on medical marijuana and a bipartisan bill that would have applied the indoor smoking ban to marijuana and vapes.

When he introduced a decriminalization bill in 2019, Crowley cited racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana laws.

Asked if he generally supports expungements for past marijuana possession convictions, Crowley told the Journal Sentinel on Sept. 9 that "we have to look at each conviction on a case-by-case basis."

"If a nonviolent marijuana possession is the only conviction, we should work to reintegrate the individual so they don’t end up back in our criminal justice system," he said.

Tiffany's statement didn't address a question from the Journal Sentinel about his stance on marijuana conviction expungements.

As a member of the Joint Finance Committee, he was among the Republicans who removed hundreds of items in Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' first budget proposal, which included a medical marijuana program, decriminalizing 25 grams or fewer of marijuana and an expungement process.

Tiffany voted for continuing resolution that delayed hemp ban

Wisconsin's hemp farmers are bracing for a pending ban they say could put them out of business. The 2018 Farm Bill created a loophole that legalized the sale of hemp and cannabinoids extracted from it.

But when Congress passed a sweeping funding bill to end a 2025 government shutdown, it included a provision that reduces the federal limit for THC to 0.4 milligrams per container, essentially closing the Farm Bill loophole, by Nov. 12, 2026. Tiffany voted for that spending bill, along with every other Wisconsin Republican.

But Tiffany also voted for another government funding bill on Sept. 1, 2026, that delayed the ban on many hemp products by one month, to Dec. 11, a provision requested by President Donald Trump.

"We should also protect Wisconsin hemp farmers while closing loopholes that allow intoxicating products to be marketed and sold without any safeguards," Tiffany said in his statement to the Journal Sentinel.

Crowley said he supports the delay of the ban and doesn't support closing the Farm Bill loophole.

"Hemp production is good for Wisconsin’s economy and provides another revenue stream that funds public programs," Crowley said.

Hope Karnopp can be reached at [email protected].