AD 52: Incumbent Lee Snodgrass (D) vs Chad Cooke (R)

The 52nd Assembly District of Wisconsin is located in eastern Wisconsin, the district comprises part of southern Outagamie County, including most of the city of Appleton. The district also contains the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, the Fox Cities Stadium, the Appleton campus of the Fox Valley Technical College, Lawrence University, the Fox River Paper Company Historic District, the Appleton Locks 1–3 Historic District and the Appleton Lock 4 Historic District.

What I know so far about the candidates is below. Both candidates have said that they will be attending the Pizza, Pot and Politics – Fox Valley Meet and Greet on Oct 5th in Appleton. You can come met them for yourself.

Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton)

Current Minority Caucus Sergeant At Arms.

Elected to Assembly 2020. Leadership positions: Minority Caucus Sergeant at Arms 2023.

When she ran in 2018, she made sure to include her pro-cannabis stance on my website. It was important for her to let constituents know that from pain management, to criminal justice, to economic recovery, legalizing just makes sense.

From her 2018 campaign: “Core Belief: Marijuana is proven less harmful than alcohol and if we legalize it, we can regulate it and tax it. This would provide alternative pain relief options, keep more people out of our overcrowded prisons and be an economic boon for Wisconsin’s economy. 

I support medical and recreational marijuana legalization in the state of Wisconsin and support removing marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances. Wisconsin has some of the harshest penalties related to marijuana possession, sale and cultivation. Wisconsin prisons have bloated to over 23,000 incarcerated leading to dangerous, overcrowded conditions. We can drastically cut down on the prison population by doing away with incarceration of non-violent, low-level drug offenders.

Additionally, with the opioid crisis impacting communities throughout Wisconsin, we need to consider legalization as part of a viable solution. In studies published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that states that allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes had 2.21 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed per year under Medicare Part D, compared with those states without medical cannabis laws. Opioid prescriptions under Medicaid also dropped by 5.88% in states with medical cannabis laws compared with states without such laws, according to the studies.”

In 2022 she was quoted often in many main stream media sources after the 2022 Referendums passed with high support. “I think it shows what we’ve known statewide that a majority of Wisconsinites want to see marijuana legalized,” said Democratic State Rep. Lee Snodgrass. Adding: Snodgrass says Republicans should consider the polling results when a legalization bill is on the table.

“Right now, we are not preventing Wisconsinites from using cannabis. They are just going to other states to do so; we are surrounded by states where it’s legalized, and this is a revenue issue,” said Snodgrass.

She has consistently sponsored cannabis reform bills and has been a leader on legislation to allow adult use recreational cannabis and finally end marijuana prohibition in Wisconsin.

Should the industrial hemp industry in Wisconsin come under attack, she will be there to to defend it.

There are 99 state Assembly seats and 16 state Senate seats on the ballot this November. The ACLU of Wisconsin sent a questionnaire to all candidates and published their answers on August 21st.

We are not surprised that she answered YES to the ACLU question: Do you support the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana for recreational use by adults 21 and over in Wisconsin? She added “We need to legalize and regulate like the states surrounding WI. We also need to decriminalize and release low level drug offenders from incarceration.”

Please follow her campaign on facebook page and visit her official website for more details on this candidate.

vs

Chad Cooke (R-Appleton)

Army veteran. Former Corrections Officer and Sergeant 20+ years

While I did not have an in depth conversation with him about every aspect of marijuana reform, he did tell me this about his stance on marijuana reform:

While I personally don’t partake. I would support legalization.

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Stay tuned and get active!

I will provide you additional 2024 Wisconsin State Election coverage throughout the campaign season. This next election is extremely important for marijuana reform and I will continue to bring you information as more candidates make their political moves.

In the event that we end up with divided government in the 2024-25 legislation session, the official formation of The Wisconsin Cannabis Caucus would be a must first step towards reform. The official establishment of this Caucus will represent the growing, bipartisan support in Wisconsin.

Although session as ended we still urge you to contact your elected officials. The top four action alerts are still functionable on The Wisconsin Cannabis Activist Action Network for you immediate use.

Sources: CNanalysis (Very Likely Dem +17) WisPolitics /2024 Assembly Races (57% Dem), Davesredistircing, PeoplesMaps, Ballotpedia