Top GOP Senator In Indiana Says It’d Be A ‘Smart Move’ To Decriminalize Marijuana
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Indiana’s top Senate leader says that decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana would be a “smart move” in his view, though he remains “unconvinced” that broader legalization of cannabis is in the state’s best interest.
In a wide-ranging interview published by The Indiana Lawyer this week, Senate Pro Tempore Rodric Bray (R) said he knows marijuana reform is “becoming more and more popular, of course, across the state of Indiana, and also in this building.”
“We can’t exist in a vacuum,” acknowledged the lawmaker, who has historically opposed both medical and adult-use legalization. “More than 30 states have legalized marijuana in some capacity, including those states around us.”
While Bray said he was speaking personally—”just Rod Bray talk, and not our caucus”—he described marijuana decriminalization as a better path forward, taking a more moderate approach to reform.
“I think that it would be a smart move, based on where we are in that space right now, that we decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. I don’t think that needs to be criminal at this point,” he said. “Maybe it’s an infraction or something like that, because people are obviously buying it legally in other parts of the country [and] can’t possess it when you come back here. But should that be a jailable offense at this point? Maybe not.”
Decriminalization is “something I would consider,” he added. “But we have to do that as a body.”
Lawmakers in Illinois have been eyeing various cannabis reforms recently, including both medical and adult-use cannabis legalization. In January, Gov. Mike Braun (R) said he’s “amenable” to legalizing medical marijuana but noted that he wasn’t sure whether Republican lawmakers would even take up the matter.
“When it comes to medical marijuana, I’m clear on record that I’m going to be amenable to hearing a case for it,” Braun said at the time.
Other lawmakers have been studying nearby Michigan and Illinois as guides for how to eventually legalize marijuana more broadly.
Bray, for his part, said at a December event that he doesn’t support any form of marijuana legalization.
“It’s no secret that I am not for this,” he said at a law firm conference in Indianapolis. “I don’t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases as to why it’s so beneficial. And any state that I’ve seen pass medical marijuana is essentially passing recreational marijuana.”
Bray does, however, favor further regulation of hemp products, such as delta-8 THC. In the new interview with The Indiana Lawyer, he said lawmakers are ready to move on that issue.
“The other thing you’ll see us work on, that we’re working on hard this year, is a distinction from marijuana and…some of those other cannabinoids that are out there that are being sold today to people who are 12, 14 years old,” he said. “We’ve got an option to make those things illegal.”
While Bray suggested decriminalizing marijuana without any state oversight, he argued that when it comes to hemp, regulation of products would better protect consumers.
“Some of those products absolutely have a high [and] they can be dangerous,” he said. “People need to understand what they are, have some reliability as to what is in them, so they understand the impact it’s going to have on them. That regulation is important.”
Lawmakers are considering a number of hemp- and cannabis-related bills this session, including a “craft hemp flower products” bill that would set an age limit for products and establish rules around licensing, testing, packaging and advertising.
Another piece of legislation would ban all marijuana advertising within state lines. Initially that bill would have prohibited only billboard advertising of marijuana, but the proposal was expanded under an amendment adopted in committee.
Braun, speaking earlier this year, pointed out that Indiana is “now surrounded by four states, at least two of which have the entire spectrum legalized when it comes to recreational.”
The governor has previously said that “it’s probably time” to allow access to therapeutic cannabis among patients in the state. Those comments came alongside a poll indicating that nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults (87 percent) support marijuana legalization.
Top Republicans in the legislature, however, have openly opposed marijuana reform.
House Speaker Todd Huston (R), meanwhile, has doubted any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance “a deterrent to mental health.” He and others have suggested that lawmakers supportive of the reform merely want to boost state revenue.
In January, meanwhile, GOP lawmakers rejected a Democratic-led attempt to legalize marijuana in the state.
Rep. Kyle Miller (D) sought to remove cannabis from the state’s list of controlled substances through an amendment to a broader bill. But following a brief debate, the House ruled the amendment out of order.
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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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