The governor of Indiana isn\u2019t personally in support of marijuana legalization, but he says he\u2019s on board with having lawmakers pass a bill to set up the regulatory infrastructure for a legal cannabis market. That said, he\u2019d only be open to enacting the reform after federal prohibition ends.<\/p>\n
Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) was asked about cannabis policy during an end-of-the-year interview with Indy Politics that was released on Tuesday. Specifically, he was asked whether he\u2019d \u201cobject to Indiana lawmakers at least starting the process\u201d of setting up a licensing structure for legal cannabis businesses so the state can \u201cflip the switch\u201d when federal law changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind that at all,\u201d the governor replied<\/a>.<\/p>\n Listen to Holcomb\u2019s marijuana comments, around 9:00 into the audio below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n It would be a unique legislative process that no other legal marijuana state has pursued, with lawmakers hashing out rules on issues like licensing and taxes without a clear timeline for implementation that hinges on a possible future action by Congress.<\/p>\n The GOP governor\u2019s support for the proposal was welcomed by the Indiana Democratic party, which recently mounted a push for marijuana legalization<\/a> and called on state lawmakers to enact the reform.<\/p>\n Rep. Sue Errington (D) said she is working on a bill along the lines of what the governor says he\u2019s open to. She recently hosted<\/a> a town hall event to hear from constituents on the issue.<\/p>\n That\u2019s my bill! https:\/\/t.co\/yOpF3N3m9j<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sue Errington (@SueinMuncie) December 8, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n If the GOP-controlled legislature fails to pass a legalization bill during the 2022 session, the party organization said Democrats are prepared to campaign on the issue, leveraging the popularity of ending prohibition among Indiana voters.<\/p>\n But while Holcomb endorsed the idea of setting the state up to legalize, he\u2019s made it abundantly clear that it\u2019s not his top priority and he will give deference to the federal government, refusing to enact reform until a federal policy change comes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about something that is illegal, and it\u2019s just at the core of me\u2014I\u2019ve said this, I\u2019ve taken a couple blows\u2014it\u2019s to uphold and defend the laws of the state and nation,\u201d the governor said. \u201cI don\u2019t get to pick and choose. Even if I agreed with it, I couldn\u2019t get myself to just look the other way as a lot of states have. But just because a lot of other states have doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, Holcomb said he does want to see more research into cannabis.<\/p>\n \u201cI would encourage research, proper research, to be conducted,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got Indiana University and Purdue University that agree to participate in\u2014an ag school, a medical school\u2014to do the proper research as they would with any other controlled substance and get the [Food and Drug Administration] involved in and get real data.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor similarly talked about his interest in exploring the medical benefits of marijuana during a separate interview<\/a> with WANE-TV this week.<\/p>\n\n A 2018 poll<\/a> that found that about 80 percent of Indianans favor legalizing cannabis for either medical or recreational purposes, and 78 percent agreed that simple possession should be decriminalized.<\/p>\n Adding pressure to enact reform in Indiana is the fact that neighboring Illinois and Michigan have each legalized marijuana for adult use and Ohio has a medical cannabis program. Illinois retailers have already\u00a0sold more than $1 billion worth of legal adult-use cannabis<\/a>\u00a0so far in 2021.<\/p>\n IRS Official Gives Marijuana Businesses Advice On Tax Compliance<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Anti-Marijuana Indiana Governor Backs Proposal To Set Up Legalization Rules If Federal Prohibition Ends<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Indiana isn\u2019t personally in support of marijuana legalization, but he says he\u2019s on board with having lawmakers pass a bill to set up the regulatory infrastructure for a legal cannabis market. That said, he\u2019d only be open to enacting the reform after federal prohibition ends. Gov. EricContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51617,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51616\/revisions\/51617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Anti-Marijuana Indiana Governor Backs Proposal To Set Up Legalization Rules If Federal Prohibition Ends<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"