A legislative study committee recently held a hearing to discuss the potential of decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana in Indiana, with the meeting lasting nearly seven hours.
The Commerce and Economic Development Interim Study Committee, consisting of both senators and state representatives, held the meeting on Wednesday. Although members discussed a variety of potential approaches for reforming the state’s marijuana laws and also discussed its potential benefits and risks, no specific agreement was reached.
”We just couldn’t gain consensus on this, so there are no current recommendations on the table,” said Senator Scott Baldwin, Chair of the committee.
State Representative Matt Pierce expressed concerns with how the legislature has approached the issue of marijuana law reform.
”The public is way ahead of the General Assembly on this issue. We’ve not even been allowed to have an up or down vote on these issues – the bills have all been basically buried in committee, and you know, amendment efforts have been blocked”.
When it comes to public opinion, Pierce may have a point. According to polling released in December, conducted by Ball State University’s Bowen Center for Public Affairs, 56% of Indiana adults believe that marijuana should be legal for recreational use, while 85% support marijuana being legal for medical purposes.
Despite the widespread public support, Indiana is one of just 11 states that hasn’t legalized marijuana for at least some form of medical use.
”I have to keep hope that we’re going to move something,” said Senator Rodney Pol. ”That’s kind of the beauty of where we are – we have 39 other states that we can look to for what has worked, what hasn’t worked.”
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