Here & Now

When Wisconsinites Buy Legal Marijuana in Neighboring States

Frederica Freyberg:

Wisconsin is surrounded by legal marijuana with both Illinois and Michigan legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in the last few years. And Minnesota, voting to do the same earlier this year. It’s estimated more than half of all state residents over the age of 21 live within a 75-minute drive to a legal dispensary, and that number will only increase. “Here & Now” senior political reporter Zac Schultz explains how this leaves Wisconsin residents and law enforcement caught in a gray area where a product purchased legally in another state becomes illegal the minute it crosses the border.

Zac Schultz:

The highway 41 bridge travels over the Menomonee River, carrying you out of Wisconsin and into Michigan’s upper peninsula. Take the first right and you’re in the parking lot of a recreational marijuana dispensary. If you go through the drive-through, you don’t even need to exit your car to purchase legal marijuana products and start the drive back across the river.

Lindsay Martwick:

Yeah. Just a really optimal location.

Zac Schultz:

Lindsay Martwick is the director of retail operations for Higher Love. She says most of their customers are from over the border.

Lindsay Martwick:

A good majority are folks from Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

They’re currently operating out of a trailer but are building a permanent location next door.

Lindsay Martwick:

The folks that are coming to us from Wisconsin, we get to bring more people into the Higher Love family and we’re just happy to be able to provide the products and services and supports for people from other states and be nice and close to the border for convenience.

Zac Schultz:

But when their customers cross the bridge into Marinette, the product they just bought is illegal.

Patrick Callahan:

It’s pretty consistent that cars that are stopped have, you know, marijuana products, especially if they’re traveling through the area, not necessarily from the area.

Zac Schultz:

Patrick Callahan is a narcotics investigator for the Marinette County sheriff’s office.

Deshea Morrow:

My office, we are charged with enforcing the laws. Marijuana is against the law in the state of Wisconsin in any form.

Zac Schultz:

Deshea Morrow is the Marinette County district attorney. Together, they’re trying to figure out how to handle the surge of Wisconsin residents taking day trips for recreational marijuana.

Patrick Callahan:

That one 41 corridor, within the drug unit, kind of had the nickname of the green highway, the green corridor, just because it was very well known for several years now since those dispensaries opened up, that that was kind of the quickest access point for legal weed for close to near a million people, residents of Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

So far, most people pulled over with small amounts of dispensary marijuana have avoided arrest. Instead, they likely receive a citation and the confiscation of their purchase.

Deshea Morrow:

There’s always been a triage approach. There has to be in this line of work. And so, yes, if it’s a small amount of weed, that may be treated differently than a small amount of heroin.

Zac Schultz:

On April 20th of this year, a Marinette sheriff’s deputy pulled over a car with two men and seized a backpack full of recreational marijuana. When the sheriff’s office displayed the bust on their Facebook page, the post attracted thousands of comments, ranging from ridicule to support.

Patrick Callahan:

I don’t think people really realize that that’s not everything that we — we had four or five other interdiction stops that day. That was just one traffic stop. So there was a lot of feedback, but we revert to the district attorney and the laws of the state of Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

The two men received ordinance citations for $263. They had traveled from Oshkosh, more than a hundred miles away. In many ways, it’s not surprising that some of the dispensaries start advertising on billboards as far south as Fond du Lac.

Lindsay Martwick:

The more we can advertise and let people know that we’re here, the better.

Zac Schultz:

Lindsay Martwick says the risk belongs to the customer and it’s a risk they’re clearly willing to take.

Lindsay Martwick:

They know that where they’re heading, it’s not legal. No one wants to be in that light so we do make sure to try to express to our customers what to pay attention to if they are crossing that line.

Melissa Agard:

It’s clear that the most dangerous thing about cannabis in Wisconsin is that it is illegal.

Zac Schultz:

Senator Melissa Agard is a Democrat from Madison.

Melissa Agard:

We are an island of prohibition and prohibition did not work in Wisconsin when it came to alcohol or margarine. It’s not working when it comes to cannabis.

Zac Schultz:

She’s been traveling the state on her grassroots tour promoting her bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Wisconsin.

Melissa Agard:

It is clear, nearly seven out of 10 people in Wisconsin support responsible adult use policy for cannabis with a medicinal component.

Zac Schultz:

However, Senator Agard doesn’t have any Republican support for her bill, which means it may not get a hearing, much less get a vote on the floor.

Mary Felzkowski:

For the last three sessions, I’ve been working on a bill around medical marijuana and it’s slowly gaining. Caucuses are very much more open to it.

Zac Schultz:

Senator Mary Felzkowski’s is a Republican. Her district includes most of Marinette County. Her proposal would legalize medicinal marijuana, which would require a patient to see a doctor to get a prescription. As a cancer survivor, she wants to see more options for pain management.

Mary Felzkowski:

I’m trying to help patients. I know people who have had very debilitating medical conditions, are veterans, the PTSD, MS, and I have firsthand knowledge of what opioids do to you as a side effect.

Zac Schultz:

But she’s facing stiff opposition from her Republican colleagues, who see medical marijuana as a gateway to recreational marijuana. She says Agard’s bill doesn’t help.

Mary Felzkowski:

And Melissa is very much in favor of this and she can do, you know, whatever, but it does make it harder in our caucus, and I think a lot of our caucus members are looking at this going, you know, we don’t want to be Illinois. We don’t want to be Minnesota.

Zac Schultz:

Agard says Felzkowski’s last version of the bill didn’t go far enough.

Melissa Agard:

So the devil is in the details with all policymaking, and Senator Felzkowski has been outspoken about her support for medicinal cannabis in Wisconsin.

Zac Schultz:

But while the debate hasn’t even started at the Capitol, the cars still head north on highway 41 and Morrow says they’d appreciate some clarity from Madison.

Deshea Morrow:

They need to look at laws that are going to protect our young people and also to send a very clear message to people in the state, but also to law enforcement to give us bright lines on how to enforce this.

Mary Felzkowski:

I don’t really have advice for them. I feel bad that they’re put in this position. I think they’re in an untenable situation where what is the win here? I mean, there really is no win.

Zac Schultz:

Felzkowski says she’s hoping to get a public hearing on her bill and maybe a vote on the floor, but final passage may still be a long ways off.

Mary Felzkowski:

It’s a heavy lift this session. I’m not going to say it’s not but I’m optimistic. I’m optimistic.

Zac Schultz:

Reporting from Marinette, I’m Zac Schultz for “Here & Now.”