Wisconsin: 12th Most Populated County Reduces Marijuana Possession Penalties to $1 Fine

Members of the La Crosse County Board of Supervisors have voted to reduce the penalties for those caught with small amounts of cannabis to a $1 fine.

The new countywide ordinance, which supervisors passed last week by a vote of 18-11, applies to those who possess up to 25 grams of marijuana. The new ordinance took effect upon passage.

Approximately 121,000 people reside in La Crosse county.

Several municipalities, including Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee, similarly treat low-level cannabis possession as a fine-only offense. By contrast, state law classifies the possession of any amount of cannabis as a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Since 2012, NORML has identified over 120 cities or counties nationwide that have passed ordinances providing for significantly lower cannabis-related penalties than those provided under state laws. Last month, commissioners in Clayton County, Georgia (population: 298,000) approved a countywide ordinance decriminalizing low-level marijuana offenses.

“Time and time again, local lawmakers in marijuana prohibition states are advancing these common sense decriminalization measures when state legislators refuse to take action,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “These local lawmakers understand that cannabis criminalization is a terribly destructive policy that disrupts people’s lives and has lasting consequences. Minor marijuana possession offenders, many of them young people, should not be saddled with an arrest, a criminal record, and with the lifelong penalties and stigma associated with it.”

Since 2018, over 95,000 Wisconsinites have been arrested for violating state marijuana laws. Over 92 percent of those arrests were for marijuana possession.

Additional information on municipal decriminalization ordinances is available from NORML.