This post originally appeared at https://www.badgerinstitute.org/cannabis-citation-rates-differ-widely-in-small-sample-of-wisconsin-communities/

Police in DeForest more than 13 times as likely to issue cannabis citations than counterparts in Milwaukee, Fitchburg or Hobart/Lawrence

It can’t be known whether residents of DeForest are more likely to use marijuana than peers in Milwaukee or Fitchburg or the Hobart/Lawrence area, but on a per capita basis they are more than 13 times as likely to be cited for a cannabis-related ordinance violation.

And they are more than five times as likely on a per capita basis to receive a citation as counterparts in the Stevens Point/Plover area or in Two Rivers.

A look at trends over time in a limited sample of places in six different areas of the state, meanwhile, shows authorities clamping down in some areas such as DeForest as those elsewhere are easing up. While the state in general rarely prosecutes possession or sale of larger amounts of marijuana, the sample shows that some municipalities are much more likely than others to prosecute less serious violations.

An earlier Badger Institute paper documented a decline in state-law criminal prosecutions for the production, sale and possession of cannabis.¹ Our earlier work revealed that even as state law remains unchanged, more than half of 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.

But city-level ordinances serve as a different mechanism for enforcement of prohibition in the state beyond the three state cannabis crimes, and even a small sample reveals widely divergent approaches.

Local ordinances prohibiting cannabis

Numerous municipalities across Wisconsin have local ordinances against cannabis possession. These laws generally prohibit residents and others within the municipal boundary from possessing marijuana and in some cases also prohibit the smoking of marijuana in a public place. The potential financial penalties differ by jurisdiction but range from a minimum of $0.01 to a maximum of $10,000.²  They were not included in our previous data analysis, as that data came from the state’s Circuit Court Access portal. 

We surveyed all of the state’s municipalities and located six municipal courts or local police departments where both such ordinances exist and the relevant data was tracked in ways that make it accessible online or through a public records request. The jurisdictions covered by these courts or agencies include Fitchburg, DeForest, Hobart, Lawrence, the City of Milwaukee, Plover, Stevens Point and Two Rivers. None of these places have formally “decriminalized” the possession of cannabis in their municipal code, but Milwaukee, DeForest, Fitchburg, Two Rivers and Plover do include safe harbors within their ordinances for the possession of cannabis if the person has a prescription from a doctor for medical use.  

We can generally say that the individuals receiving cannabis citations under municipal ordinances weren’t also being charged with a more serious misdemeanor or felony crime in the same incident: In both state law and almost all municipal codes, cannabis violations cannot be prosecuted under a municipal code if a district attorney is bringing an action in circuit courts. We cannot tell from publicly accessible data, however, whether the cannabis citations accompanied any other municipal citations in the same incident for things such a loitering, driving with a suspending license, or littering.

Milwaukee slower to reduce enforcement

As noted in our prior report, Milwaukee County has decriminalized the possession of cannabis in its code of ordinances, but the City of Milwaukee has not removed its ordinances. The city’s code prohibits both the possession of cannabis and smoking it in a public place, the penalty being a civil fine of up to $50 for possession and between $250 and $500 for smoking in a public place.³ The city has seen its enforcement of this ordinance decline by more than 55% in the 2017 to 2023 period, while charges for possession under state law declined 90%.⁴ The nearby graph visually compares the decline in the enforcement of both. Enforcement of state criminal laws regarding cannabis possession is nearly non-existent in Milwaukee County — only 15 charges were filed in 2022 — while the city, which has over 500,000 residents, continues to impose penalties on hundreds of individuals each year.

Dane shows a tale of two suburbs

The story in Wisconsin’s second most populous county paints a different picture. The data highlighted in our prior report showed that enforcement of state laws regarding cannabis in Dane County was already extremely limited back in 2017 but had continued to decline even more since then.⁵  

Both Fitchburg and DeForest have municipal codes that prohibit the possession of marijuana to the fullest extent allowed under state law.⁶ Our data survey shows that both tended to follow a similar declining trend as county prosecutions until recently.⁷ DeForest has much higher levels of overall municipal cannabis enforcement — surprising in the context of the village’s population, which, at 11,100, is about a third the size of Fitchburg’s. It is now citing ordinance violations for cannabis possession 22% more often than it did in 2017, with a substantial increase in 2023 after four years of steady decline.

Other small towns and cities signal independent decision-making

The remaining municipalities of Hobart, Lawrence, Two Rivers, Stevens Point and Plover show that municipal enforcement of cannabis possession ordinances in the 2017 to 2023 period does not always follow the statewide trend in criminal prosecutions related to cannabis. All five localities have ordinances that prohibit the possession of cannabis, but the trends in their enforcement efforts show different approaches to implementation.⁸ For example, the number of cannabis possession citations brought to the Hobart/Lawrence Municipal Court has declined by more than half⁹, in keeping with the statewide trend, while the Stevens Point/Plover Joint Municipal Court¹⁰ and Two Rivers¹¹ have significantly increased the number of citations issued for the same type of conduct, bucking the trend.

In other words, the enforcement of cannabis possession ordinances in Wisconsin varies significantly across municipalities. While some areas such as Two Rivers and DeForest exhibit continued local enforcement, others such as Hobart and Fitchburg have seen declines.

This divergence underscores the autonomy of local governments in shaping their policies independently of state and peer trends. The landscape of cannabis prohibition in Wisconsin remains complex and multifaceted, reflecting the diverse perspectives and priorities of its communities.

Jeremiah Mosteller is an attorney and criminal justice policy expert who serves as a policy director at Americans for Prosperity and a visiting fellow at the Badger Institute.

Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute President Mike Nichols at mike@badgerinstitute.org or 262-389-8239.

var gform;gform||(document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?o():!gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,o):document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,o)},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook(“action”,o,n,r,t)},addFilter:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook(“filter”,o,n,r,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook(“action”,o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook(“filter”,o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,n){gform.removeHook(“action”,o,n)},removeFilter:function(o,n,r){gform.removeHook(“filter”,o,n,r)},addHook:function(o,n,r,t,i){null==gform.hooks[o][n]&&(gform.hooks[o][n]=[]);var e=gform.hooks[o][n];null==i&&(i=n+”_”+e.length),gform.hooks[o][n].push({tag:i,callable:r,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(n,o,r){var t;if(r=Array.prototype.slice.call(r,1),null!=gform.hooks[n][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[n][o]).sort(function(o,n){return o.priority-n.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){“function”!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),”action”==n?t.apply(null,r):r[0]=t.apply(null,r)})),”filter”==n)return r[0]},removeHook:function(o,n,t,i){var r;null!=gform.hooks[o][n]&&(r=(r=gform.hooks[o][n]).filter(function(o,n,r){return!!(null!=i&&i!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][n]=r)}});

/* = 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_wrapper_21’);var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_confirmation_wrapper_21’).length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf(‘gformRedirect(){‘) >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 && ! is_redirect && ! is_confirmation;var mt = parseInt(jQuery(‘html’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + parseInt(jQuery(‘body’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + 100;if(is_form){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).html(form_content.html());if(form_content.hasClass(‘gform_validation_error’)){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).addClass(‘gform_validation_error’);} else {jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).removeClass(‘gform_validation_error’);}setTimeout( function() { /* delay the scroll by 50 milliseconds to fix a bug in chrome */ jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).offset().top – mt); }, 50 );if(window[‘gformInitDatepicker’]) {gformInitDatepicker();}if(window[‘gformInitPriceFields’]) {gformInitPriceFields();}var current_page = jQuery(‘#gform_source_page_number_21’).val();gformInitSpinner( 21, ‘https://e74sq7k37a8.exactdn.com/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/images/spinner.svg’, true );jQuery(document).trigger(‘gform_page_loaded’, [21, current_page]);window[‘gf_submitting_21’] = false;}else if(!is_redirect){var confirmation_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘.GF_AJAX_POSTBACK’).html();if(!confirmation_content){confirmation_content = contents;}jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_21’).replaceWith(confirmation_content);jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery(‘#gf_21’).offset().top – mt);jQuery(document).trigger(‘gform_confirmation_loaded’, [21]);window[‘gf_submitting_21’] = false;wp.a11y.speak(jQuery(‘#gform_confirmation_message_21’).text());}else{jQuery(‘#gform_21’).append(contents);if(window[‘gformRedirect’]) {gformRedirect();}}jQuery(document).trigger(“gform_pre_post_render”, [{ formId: “21”, currentPage: “current_page”, abort: function() { this.preventDefault(); } }]); if (event && event.defaultPrevented) { return; } const gformWrapperDiv = document.getElementById( “gform_wrapper_21” ); if ( gformWrapperDiv ) { const visibilitySpan = document.createElement( “span” ); visibilitySpan.id = “gform_visibility_test_21”; gformWrapperDiv.insertAdjacentElement( “afterend”, visibilitySpan ); } const visibilityTestDiv = document.getElementById( “gform_visibility_test_21” ); let postRenderFired = false; function triggerPostRender() { if ( postRenderFired ) { return; } postRenderFired = true; jQuery( document ).trigger( ‘gform_post_render’, [21, current_page] ); gform.utils.trigger( { event: ‘gform/postRender’, native: false, data: { formId: 21, currentPage: current_page } } ); if ( visibilityTestDiv ) { visibilityTestDiv.parentNode.removeChild( visibilityTestDiv ); } } function debounce( func, wait, immediate ) { var timeout; return function() { var context = this, args = arguments; var later = function() { timeout = null; if ( !immediate ) func.apply( context, args ); }; var callNow = immediate && !timeout; clearTimeout( timeout ); timeout = setTimeout( later, wait ); if ( callNow ) func.apply( context, args ); }; } const debouncedTriggerPostRender = debounce( function() { triggerPostRender(); }, 200 ); if ( visibilityTestDiv && visibilityTestDiv.offsetParent === null ) { const observer = new MutationObserver( ( mutations ) => { mutations.forEach( ( mutation ) => { if ( mutation.type === ‘attributes’ && visibilityTestDiv.offsetParent !== null ) { debouncedTriggerPostRender(); observer.disconnect(); } }); }); observer.observe( document.body, { attributes: true, childList: false, subtree: true, attributeFilter: [ ‘style’, ‘class’ ], }); } else { triggerPostRender(); } } );} );
/* ]]> */

1: Jeremiah Mosteller, Criminal enforcement of marijuana laws uncommon in many Wisconsin counties, Badger Institute (2023), https://www.badgerinstitute.org/criminal-enforcement-of-marijuana-laws-uncommon-in-wisconsin/; Julie Grace, Few marijuana offenders in prison, Badger Institute (2021), https://www.badgerinstitute.org/few-marijuana-offenders-in-prison/.  

2: Milwaukee ($.01 to $500); DeForest ($50 to $500); Fitchburg ($1 for over 21, $200 for under 21); Lawrence ($1 to $10,000); Hobart ($1 to $10,000); Stevens Point ($5 for 17 or older, $100 for 16 or younger); Plover ($100 to $200).  

3: MILWAUKEE CITY, WIS., MORALS WELFARE, ch. 106, § 106-38 (2024).  

4: Milwaukee Municipal Court, Charges Filed By Number of Cases, Milwaukee Municipal Court (2024), https://municipalcourt.milwaukee.gov/resources/reports-and-statistics (utilized the reports from 2017 to 2023 for this report).  

5: Our data showed that only 73 charges had been brought across all three state criminal laws regarding cannabis in 2017 and that number had declined to only 35 in 2022. These sums reflect comparatively small enforcement levels when viewed alongside counties with much smaller populations.  

6: DEFOREST VILLAGE, WIS., ORDERLY CONDUCT, ch. 10, § 10.03(7) (2024); FITCHBURG, WIS., OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC MORALITY, art. IV, § 70-122 (2024).  

7: DeForest Police Department, Annual Report, DeForest Police Department (2024), https://www.vi.deforest.wi.us/241/Annual-Reports (2020 to 2023 reports); Email from Sandy Bowers, Office Manager at DeForest Police Department to Jeremiah Mosteller (Sept. 27, 2024); DeForest Police Department Email from James Gray, Clerk of Court at Fitchburg Clerk of Court to Jeremiah Mosteller (Sept. 26, 2024) (on file with author).  

8: LAWRENCE, WIS., PEACE AND GOOD ORDER, ch. 204, § 204-1 (2024); HOBART, WIS., PEACE AND GOOD ORDER, ch. 221, § 221-1 (2024); TWO RIVERS, WIS., OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC SAFETY, ch. 9-2, § 9-2-12 (2024); STEVENS POINTS, WIS., PUBLIC PEACE AND OFFENSES, ch. 24, § 24.52 (2024); PLOVER, WIS., PEACE AND GOOD ORDER, ch. 406, § 406-5 (2024).  

9: Hobart/Lawrence Municipal Court, Monthly Court Reports, Hobart/Lawrence Municipal Court (2024), https://www.hobart-wi.org/monthly-court-report (utilized reports for January 2019 to December 2023); Email from Amanda Wangerin, Municipal Court Clerk at Hobart/Lawrence Municipal Court to Jeremiah Mosteller (Oct. 7, 2024) (on file with author).  

10: Email from Kari Jozwiak, Clerk at Stevens Point/Plover Joint Municipal Court to Jeremiah Mosteller (Sept. 27, 2024) (on file with author).  

11: Two Rivers Police Department, Monthly Report: December 2023, Two Rivers Police Department (2024), https://www.two-rivers.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/police_department/page/7183/monthly_report_december_2023.pdf; Two Rivers Police Department, Monthly Report: December 2022, Two Rivers Police Department (2023), https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/tworivrswi-meet-d8d18eeec7c84b4ea9d16e5536b5b8a1/ITEM-Attachment-001-144c55ed2c2a4f98b97d734ef72ab245.pdf; Two Rivers Police Department, Monthly Report: December 2021, Two Rivers Police Department (2022), https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/tworivrswi-meet-19ff0278d1b44ab69de73d2d7faf11c1/ITEM-Attachment-001-2211a03f48c940fe924a2078e0776838.pdf; Email from Susie Griepentrog, Police Secretary at Two Rivers Police Department to Jeremiah Mosteller (Sept. 23, 2024) (on file with author).

The post Cannabis citation rates differ widely in small sample of Wisconsin communities appeared first on Badger Institute.