An Indiana lawmaker has filed a bill that would effectively legalize the possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana.<\/p>\n
The legislation filed on Monday by Rep. Mitch Gore (D) would remove all penalties for possessing or growing up to two ounces of marijuana without creating a regulatory structure for licensed cannabis production and retail sales, giving the state a non-commercial form of legalization.<\/p>\n
The proposal would amend existing statute that designates any level of marijuana possession or cultivation as a Class B misdemeanor. Possessing hashish and hash oil, which are concentrated forms of cannabis, would still be entirely prohibited.<\/p>\n
However, the bill would also make it so the cannabis possession threshold for a Level 6 felony\u2014which is punishable by up to 2.5 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine\u2014would be increased from 30 grams to four ounces.<\/p>\n
Gore\u2019s proposal<\/a> has been referred to the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee for consideration.<\/p>\n Whether the panel takes up the measure is yet to be seen, but cannabis reform advocates have struggled to make inroads in the conservative legislature<\/a>.<\/p>\n That said, the state\u2019s GOP governor said recently that a move by President Donald Trump to federally reschedule marijuana could add \u201ca little bit of fire\u201d to the local push for cannabis legalization in his state<\/a>. Months later, Trump did sign an executive order directing the attorney general to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n Gov. Mike Braun (R) also said last year that he\u2019s \u201camenable\u201d to medical cannabis legalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, one member of the state\u2019s congressional delegation, Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), expressed opposition to state-level reform despite Trump\u2019s prior comments previewing a rescheduling decision.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has been honest about it, that when it comes to marijuana, he said very clearly we shouldn\u2019t smell it on the streets. You have a lot of states that have legalized it. It\u2019s caused even more crime and issues,\u201d Banks said. \u201cI hope Indiana is never a state that legalizes marijuana, by the way.\u201d<\/p>\n The senator acknowledged, however, that there is likely to be \u201cfurther conversation\u201d about the issue.<\/p>\n Braun, for his part, previously said that \u201cit\u2019s probably time\u201d to allow access to therapeutic cannabis<\/a>\u00a0among patients in the state. Those comments came alongside a poll indicating that nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults (87 percent) support marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n Top Republicans in the legislature, however,\u00a0have openly opposed marijuana reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no secret that I am not for this,\u201d Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said in late 2024. \u201cI don\u2019t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases as to why it\u2019s so beneficial. And any state that I\u2019ve seen pass medical marijuana is essentially passing recreational marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n House Speaker Todd Huston (R) doubted any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance \u201ca deterrent to mental health.\u201d He and others suggested that lawmakers supportive of the reform merely want to boost state revenue.<\/p>\n A number of\u00a0marijuana reform bills were introduced for the Indiana legislature\u2019s 2025 session<\/a>, including one\u2014from Reps. Jim Lucas (R) and Shane Lindauer (R)\u2014that would have legalized medical marijuana for people with \u201cserious medical conditions as determined by their physician.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Indiana Lawmaker Files Bill To Legalize Low-Level Marijuana Possession And Cultivation<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
An Indiana lawmaker has filed a bill that would effectively legalize the possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana. The legislation filed on Monday by Rep. Mitch Gore (D) would remove all penalties for possessing or growing up to two ounces of marijuana without creating a regulatory structure forContinue 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\/85045"}],"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=85045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85046,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85045\/revisions\/85046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Indiana Lawmaker Files Bill To Legalize Low-Level Marijuana Possession And Cultivation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"