Madeline Heim
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel collaborated with Wisconsin Watch to develop this fact brief. Wisconsin Watch is a member of the Gigafact program, newsrooms across the U.S. that deliver bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read more about our methodology atjsonline.com/FactBriefMethods.
Yes
Cannabis isn’t legal in Wisconsin, so residents are purchasing it in states where it is, generating tax money for those states.
Wisconsin borders three states with legal recreational cannabis: Michigan, which legalized it in 2018; Illinois, which legalized it in 2019; and Minnesota, which legalized it in 2023.
Illinois tracks cannabis sales by in-state versus out-of-state purchasers. A 2023 analysis from Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau found that Illinois collected $36.1 million in tax revenue in 2022 from out-of-state residents who purchased cannabis in counties bordering Wisconsin.
About half of cannabis sales in 2022 at dispensaries in Illinois counties that border Wisconsin were to out-of-state residents, the analysis found.
Michigan and Minnesota do not track nonresident cannabis purchases.
In Michigan, marijuana tax revenue is shared with local governments and tribes, as well as the state’s School Aid and Transportation funds.
This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Ballotpedia, Michigan Proposal 1, Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2018)
National Public Radio, Illinois Governor Signs Law Legalizing Recreational Use Of Marijuana
Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, Cannabis law
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Illinois adult use cannabis monthly sales figures
Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Illinois Marijuana Tax Collections on Sales and Estimated Wisconsin Residents
Email with Jim Walker, public information officer, Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management
Email with David Harns, public relations manager, Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency
Michigan Department of Treasury, Adult-Use Marijuana Distributions Based on Marijuana Revenues Collected in Fiscal Year 2025 February 2026
Michigan Legislature, Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (excerpt)
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