Is Indiana ready to legalize marijuana?
Kristine Guerra, kristine.guerra@indystar.com 10:15 a.m. EST December 18, 2014
This coming session, Tallian hopes a more narrowly defined bill to legalize marijuana for people with certain medical conditions would fare better in a Republican-controlled legislature
(INDY STAR) -- State Sen. Karen Tallian has tried for years to legalize marijuana.
The Democrat from Portage, Ind., has introduced bills that would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Those efforts have so far failed.
This coming session, Tallian hopes a more narrowly defined bill to legalize marijuana for people with certain medical conditions would fare better in a Republican-controlled legislature. The bill that she plans to introduce would allow people with a medical marijuana card and a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana.
Indiana senator plans medical marijuana proposal
"I'm trying something a little different," Tallian said. "I'm hoping to get a little more sympathy to getting a hearing."
Experts say a narrower proposal that would benefit people with specific medical problems is likely to go further in the legislature and could get some support from medical associations and people who have family members with debilitating illnesses.
But is Indiana ready to legalize marijuana even on a limited scale? Probably not. Some say the state likely will be one of the last ones to do so.
"It's still a long shot. In spite of our rugged individualism, I don't anticipate us being too early on that process," said Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. "We are one of two states that doesn't allow Sunday alcohol sales. There are certain things that we accept as the way we operate and don't accept changes just because others have."
The trend in the country has been toward legalizing marijuana. This weekend, Congress passed a spending bill that would end federal raids in states where medical marijuana is legal. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana in some fashion. Most are blue states. Limited access to marijuana also is allowed in a handful of red states, including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina. Some allow marijuana use for people with epilepsy and cancer.
Such a change may take some time to happen in Indiana, said David Orentlicher, co-director of the William S. and Christine S. Hall Center for Law and Health at the Indiana University Robert S. McKinney School of Law.
"You want legislation to gain support. It's important for other legislators to hear from their constituents," said Orentlicher, who added that if Hoosiers who have relatives with medical conditions that are responsive to marijuana contact their legislators, the bill may gain some traction.
Downs said a bill is unlikely to pass this session, unless several Republicans sign on to it.
"(We) have a fairly strict criminal code in the state of Indiana," Downs said. "There's no reason to believe that's going to change anytime soon."
Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, chair of the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee, declined to comment until a bill is filed.
Still, Tallian is optimistic.
"I think there is a huge segment of the population that thinks this is OK," Tallian said, "and the general public is much farther ahead than the legislature on this issue."
She said the bill she'll introduce is not a strictly one-party deal, and the growing public support on marijuana use would signal to legislators that legalizing marijuana is no longer an unpopular thing to do.
"I have a lot of people on the other side of the aisle who are interested in this issue," Tallian said. "I think people are just a little afraid to put their names out there. I'm working on it."
Tallian has introduced bills in the past that would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.
In 2013, she introduced Senate Bill 580, which would have made possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana a Class C infraction punishable by only a fine. Possession of more than 2 ounces would have been a Class B misdemeanor under the bill, and it would have been a Class A misdemeanor if the person has two or more marijuana-related convictions in the past five years. This past session, she introduced similar legislation, Senate Bill 314.
Both bills died without a hearing.
The bill she plans to introduce next year is not as broad as she wants, Tallian said, but it's a start.
In explaining how she became a strong advocate for legalizing marijuana, Tallian tells the story of a girl who got arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana just after graduating from high school. The girl did everything she needed to do, Tallian said. She went to court, hired an attorney, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, did community service, paid her fine and underwent substance abuse counseling.
The girl went to college to become a teacher. When she was supposed to start her student teaching, Tallian said the school superintendent told her she could not be a teacher because of her criminal record.
"I'm tired of that stuff," Tallian said. "I'm an attorney. I'm tired of going to court and seeing one kid after another pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, which can stay on their records."
The recent overhaul of the state's sentencing laws, the purpose of which is to reduce the cost of incarceration, resulted in less harsh penalties for marijuana possession.
Under the new criminal code, which took effect July 1, the penalty for possession of about an ounce of marijuana went down from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class B misdemeanor punishable by 180 days in jail.
If a person has a prior drug conviction, the charge is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. That used to be a Class D felony under the old law.
Possession of 30 grams or more is a Level 6 felony if the person has a prior drug offense. That's punishable by up to two and a half years in jail.
Whether the state will see some savings because of such sentencing changes won't be known for another year or so, Downs said.
