NORML's Smoke the Vote

C+ Joel Kitchens (R - WI) DECRIMINALIZE MEDICAL USE

The Sturgeon Bay area is where Rep. Kitchens calls home and thanks to the work for field activists in the area, cannabis possession in your own home in Sturgeon Bay no longer as any penalty, civil or criminal! This comes after a great deal of work and a coalition of groups in the area pushing marijuana reform. Right after the elections in 2018, Door County was on of the first counties to declare a supporting resolution supporting medical marijuana. The following spring 2019, Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor asked residents in the district about medical and recreational marijuana on a local referendum, all four referendums passed. For being a leader in 2017 on decriminalization and sponsoring both versions of medical marijuana bills, along with the high support he is showing to constituents, Rep. Kitchens receives a high grade. (thanks to the district for all the extra credit work they did for this rep).

The bad news is both medical marijuana bills are stuck in committee and Rep. Joel Kitchens is not a committee member.

Holds office State Assembly District 1

Biography

Born Washington, D.C., September 20, 1957; married; 3 children, 1 grandchild.
Graduate Ballard High School, Louisville, Kentucky, 1975; B.S. Ohio State University, 1979; D.V.M. Ohio State University, 1983.
Large animal veterinarian.
Member: Sturgeon Bay Moravian Church; Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association; American Veterinary Medical Association; Sturgeon Bay Rotary Club.
Former member: Sturgeon Bay Board of Education, 2000–14.
Elected to Assembly since 2014.

Position on Marijuana Legalization

From 2017 Listening Sessions:

Kitchens explained as long as marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, Wisconsin can’t legalize, no matter what other states have done. He said it needs to be resolved by the feds first.

“The political reality is that there’s a lot of opposition to it and it’s not going to happen in Wisconsin any time soon,” Kitchens said, adding that he believed there would never be a vote on it in his lifetime.

Position on Marijuana Decriminalization

In 2017 Rep. Kitchens was one in a group of Republicans who sponsored a decriminalization bill, this was the first time a Republican signed onto any marijuana reform legislation. Although the measure was only to decriminalize 10 grams to a $100 fine, it was a good first attempt for a newly elected Republican politician under leadership at the time.

in 2021 he co-sponsored AB 130 - 10 grams of less decriminalization.