![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-39.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Indiana Democratic lawmakers came up with a crafty way to force a House vote on marijuana legalization on Thursday after Republican leadership has blocked the issue from being considered in session after session, though the chamber ultimately rejected the reform.<\/p>\n
The House took up Senate Bill 20\u2014legislation concerning rules for businesses that sell alcohol and hemp products\u2014on second reading. Part of what the measure would do is create a regulatory distinction for \u201ccraft hemp\u201d products that could be marketed to adults 21 and older.<\/p>\n
Rep. Justin Moed (D) tried to expand the bill with an amendment proposing to strike language defining hemp as cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight, which is also the federal definition of legal hemp.<\/p>\n
By removing that language, the legislation<\/a> would have effectively served as a vehicle for marijuana legalization, simply replacing the regulations for the sale of craft hemp, including flower, with cannabis of any THC level.<\/p>\n The amendment<\/a> failed, however, in a 58-33 vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a really hard time getting an up-or-down vote on the issue,\u201d Moed told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Thursday. \u201cSo the way it was drafted was done in a way that they would not be able to use the rules to prevent us from having to vote on it, which is what they\u2019ve been doing up to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to just basically expand what they were doing with craft hemp, as opposed to doing a direct legalization bill or amendment dealing with that because they would just rule it out of order and prevent us from having an up-or-down vote,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Six Republicans joined all but one Democrat in supporting the amendment, the representative noted.<\/p>\n \u201cTime and time again, we are blocked from casting a vote on cannabis reform in IN. Today, thanks to some creativity from House Dems, we finally got a vote,\u201d Rep. Blake Johnson (D) said in a Twitter post on Thursday. \u201cIf you want to know who is actually for and who is against cannabis in Indiana, the record is now clear.\u201d<\/p>\n Here’s the roll call for Amendment #1. pic.twitter.com\/q3rPfhppLv<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Blake Johnson (@IndyBlakeJ) April 6, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Advancing marijuana reform has proved challenging in the Indiana legislature, where Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers.<\/p>\n A bill to decriminalize possession of up to two ounces of cannabis received a hearing in February<\/a>, but it\u2019s not expected to move any further this session.<\/p>\n Measures to legalize and regulate adult-use marijuana were pre-filed for the 2023 session<\/a>, but they have not received committee consideration yet.<\/p>\n Rep. Cindy Ziemke (R) said late last year that she planned to introduce a legalization bill<\/a>, but the then-assistant majority caucus chair resigned at the end of the last session.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the year, former Indiana Sen. Jim Merritt (R) recognized the challenges of pushing the issue forward in the legislature and advocated for legislation to at least form a commission<\/a> tasked with studying legalization.<\/p>\n \u2014 Even if a legalization bill did make it out of the conservative legislature, it would likely face resistance from Gov. Eric Holcomb (R), who said<\/a> earlier this year that he can\u2019t support the reform as long as it remains federally prohibited.<\/p>\n That said, he\u2019s expressed support for expanding marijuana research and some level of openness<\/a> to simple decriminalization.<\/p>\n Moed said that Democrats would continue to work to advance marijuana reform, and he\u2019d support having a conversation about starting with decriminalization if Republicans were willing to take it up seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cI think those of us in the Democratic caucus, we believe we need to take action in some way\u2014and we\u2019re open, certainly, to whatever compromises and negotiating we have to do to get the ball move forward,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we certainly just don\u2019t believe that people who are seeking medical relief or have very low amounts of cannabis product for whatever reason\u2014 whether it\u2019s mental health or veterans\u2014no one should be a criminal for doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think that this today was an effort to try to kind of give those people a voice in the legislature because it\u2019s been stifled up to this point,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, unfortunately, when put to a full vote, even a lot of people who said they were for it didn\u2019t take the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n Major Alcohol Association Executives Urge Industry To Support Efforts To Legalize Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Indiana Democrat Forces Marijuana Legalization Vote In House, But GOP Lawmakers Reject It<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Indiana Democratic lawmakers came up with a crafty way to force a House vote on marijuana legalization on Thursday after Republican leadership has blocked the issue from being considered in session after session, though the chamber ultimately rejected the reform. The House took up Senate Bill 20\u2014legislation concerning rules forContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":63564,"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\/63563"}],"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=63563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63565,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63563\/revisions\/63565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-38.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n
\nRead More: Indiana Democrat Forces Marijuana Legalization Vote In House, But GOP Lawmakers Reject It<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"