Wisconsin state Sen. Patrick Testin watched his grandfather, Blair Testin, a “big guy,” waste away after undergoing a series of chemotherapy treatments for lung and bone cancer that robbed his appetite.

This was in the 1990s, when California was the lone state in the nation to legalize medical cannabis. Yet the Testin family made the difficult decision to go outside the law and provide the elder Testin an alternative to pharmaceutical medicine more than 25 years ago.

Testin has been sharing the story of his grandfather for more than six years now, but his most recent testimony came Oct. 22 before the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Health, as the Badger State’s cannabis laws remain among the most restrictive in the nation, with no medical program to provide legal access to patients in need.

Testin gathered his emotions before retelling the story.

“It gave him his appetite back, and it gave him time that we probably otherwise would not have had,” Testin said Wednesday in Madison. “That story is not unique to mine. We have heard this from countless families all across the state, which is why I believe it’s time for us to enact a sensible medical cannabis program here in the state.”

A Republican from Stevens Point, Testin is rallying to make Wisconsin the 41st state to legalize medical cannabis via the passage of Senate Bill 534, legislation he’s sponsoring alongside Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk.

Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, is sponsoring the proposal in the lower chamber.

The legislation intends to create an Office of Medical Cannabis Regulation to oversee a licensed marketplace and to establish and manage a patient and caregiver registry, allowing patients with qualifying conditions to access cannabis, including those with cancer, seizures or epilepsy, glaucoma, severe chronic pain, severe muscle spasms, severe chronic nausea, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and any terminal illness with a probable life expectancy of less than one year.

“Illness does not discriminate. It affects people from all walks of life,” Testin said. “There is no doubt that each and every one of us knows someone that has suffered through an illness and struggled to find ways to make it through each day. While there are often medications that doctors could prescribe to help combat these illnesses, many come with side effects that can make living a normal life much more difficult.”

Felzkowski, 62, who was 40 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy, knows those side effects personally. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer.

Like Testin, Felzkowski also gathered her emotions before sharing her testimony with committee members.

“During that treatment, I lived on opioids,” said Felzkowski, who used prescription drugs for nine months to help with her pain. “The side effects of opioids are something nobody should have to live through because you take drugs; you take the opioids to control the pain so you can function through the day. … I remember sobbing to my oncologist, saying, ‘I don’t want to be a drug addict.’ And he said, ‘Well, we’ll worry about that after you survive.’”

Today, 12 years later, Felzkowski’s oncologist tells her that legalizing medical cannabis would help a lot of people by providing another tool in the toolbox.

“Here we are sitting in our ivory tower denying that for people that really need it, and it’s wrong that we’re doing that,” she said. “[It’s] not a silver bullet, but for the people out there that need it, it is that silver bullet.”

Under S.B. 534, qualifying medical cannabis patients must have written confirmation from a health care prescriber that the prescriber established a bona fide relationship with the patient. Dispensaries would be required to employ pharmacists who consult with first-time patients or caregivers to recommend daily dosages and review a patient’s medical records under the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.  

Home cultivation and smokable cannabis (flower, pre-rolls, etc.) would be prohibited under the legislation.

The Senate Health Committee also took testimonies from the public on Wednesday.

Nora Lowe, a 17-year-old with a rare genetic neurological disorder called Rett syndrome, was accompanied by her parents, Megan and Josh Lowe. Nora testified through a computer audio recording.

“It affects everything I try and do,” she said. “Just like any 17-year-old, my body just doesn’t want to cooperate.”

Nora first began advocating for patient access to medical cannabis when she was 10. Seven years later, she now questions why she’s still asking for medicine that 86% of Wisconsin voters think she should have access to, according to a February 2024 survey conducted by Marquette Law School pollsters.

“My friends with Rett syndrome who use medical cannabis actually sleep through the night and see extensive relief from painful muscle spasms. Why can’t I get relief from mine?” Nora asked lawmakers. “My friends who have access to cannabis see profound improvements in their therapies and communication skills. Why can’t I experience the same types of advancement of skills? My friends with Rett syndrome who use medical cannabis are able to regulate their movements and breathing patterns, so they are more engaged in social situations. I want that. I want my breath-holding episodes to stop. I believe that I deserve the same opportunities to improve my quality of life; don’t you?”

The 17-year-old said both Democrats and Republicans agree that people like her deserve medical cannabis.

“Yet we are still at the same place we were when I was 10 years old,” Nora said.

While Republicans who control both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature agreed last year that they should legalize medical cannabis, party leaders disagreed on the right path forward.

In 2024, Assembly Speaker Rob Vos, R-Rochester, backed a plan that called for state-run dispensaries, but that plan didn’t sit well with Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg. The reform proposal died early in the session.

Snyder, the Assembly sponsor of S.B. 534, told the Senate Health Committee members on Wednesday that he’s going to twist the arm of Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, to provide a hearing on the legislation.

“Let’s have it,” Snyder said. “Don’t listen to inside forces. Why are people so afraid?”

The intent is to advance language that can pass through both houses, Felzkowski said.

Testin said the legislation is up against political dynamics, both inside and outside the Legislature, that the sponsors have to navigate.

“Our hope is that this is a starting point in the conversation to get us to a point where we can get individuals comfortable with the concept, but more importantly, we have to start somewhere,” he said.