Dems to push for marijuana legalization
Experts say federal law is sticking point
The Indiana Democratic Party launched a campaign to call for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Indiana, something political scientists say is likely in some form — but when that will occur is difficult to predict.
At the federal level, marijuana is an illegal drug, said Elizabeth Bennion, chancellor’s professor of political science at Indiana University South Bend, so theoretically the federal government could take action against states that have legalized marijuana.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and some Republican state legislators are opposed to legalizing marijuana because it isn’t legal at the federal level, Bennion said.
But, Marie Eisenstein, associate professor of political science at Indiana University Northwest, said the federal government has not found a way to take action against the states that have done so.
“Right now, the sticking point for many people, and especially Republicans, is the fact that the federal government still considers (marijuana) a schedule one drug,” Bennion said. “On the other hand, there are increasing numbers of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle ... who are really calling for various forms of legalization and are starting to speak out about the issue.”
Ahead of the 2022 legislative session, the Indiana Democratic Party called on the legislature to address marijuana legalization. Multiple bills were filed but the bills weren’t discussed.
Both Republicans and Democrats filed legalization bills in the 2022 legislative session, Bennion said. For example, House Bill 1212, filed by Jake Teshka, R-South Bend, would have allowed for medical and recreational use for those 21 years old and older and implements regulations and taxation of the industry.
But, Teshka’s bill was set to
go into effect once the federal government ended the prohibition of marijuana, Bennion said. The bill was not heard in committee.
“We see Republicans taking an approach of setting up that framework, showing some movement on this issue, moving in many cases from a sort of moral and ethical opposition to a legal one,” Bennion said.
The shift, Bennion said, comes from economics: legalizing marijuana brings in additional revenue for the state and creates jobs. State legislators have started to raise concern about Hoosiers going to Illinois and Michigan, where marijuana is legal, to purchase marijuana.
“(Some lawmakers say) this is revenue that could be kept in the state,” Bennion said. “It is also true, given the strength of Indiana’s economy, that many lawmakers say that shouldn’t be the only reason to do this.”
Democratic state legislators, along with some Republican legislators, have also pointed out that low-level marijuana possession charges overcrowd jails and tarnish the criminal record of people “who are not a threat to the society, who have not committed a violent crime,” Bennion said.
Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party, said the party chose to focus on legalizing marijuana because it is an issue “that is supported by such a large majority of Hoosiers on every political spectrum.” Marijuana is legal in some form in 37 states and about 80% of Hoosiers support the legalization of marijuana in some form, Anderson said.
The party views legalizing marijuana as a kitchen table issue, Anderson said, because it creates jobs, offers medical uses for veterans and senior citizens for various issues from post-traumatic stress disorder to chronic pain and creates a revenue stream for the state.
The issue, Anderson said, is that state Republicans have stated they are waiting for the federal government to legalize marijuana and Indiana Republicans in Congress have voted against legislation that would do so.
“The Republicans are repeating this infinity circle of talking around on this issue,” Anderson said.
The way to encourage the Republican supermajority in the statehouse to consider this issue, Anderson said, is by voting for candidates that support marijuana legalization, filing legislation that would legalize marijuana and discussing the issue with voters.
At an event held April 22, as part of a fourday, seven-stop tour to address legalization of recreational marijuana, Hammond Mayor and candidate for U.S. Senate Thomas McDermott Jr. said marijuana should be decriminalized.
McDermott said that means that drug dealers won’t profit off of illegal sale of marijuana and Hoosiers won’t have to travel to Illinois or Michigan to buy marijuana and then face the possibility of being charged with a crime in Indiana if pulled over by police.
If recreational marijuana use was legal, Indiana would benefit with an increase in tax revenue, dispensaries would create jobs and it gives people — including veterans who use marijuana for post-traumatic stress disorder and other health issues — a safe place to purchase marijuana, McDermott said.
“Why are we, in the Hoosier state, allowing our tax money, our jobs, and our economic development to leak across the state line. We’re better than that. We’re a pro-business state and this is a business move,” McDermott said.
McDermott, who released a campaign video showing him smoking marijuana in Illinois on April 20, the high holy day for marijuana smokers, said the money collected through marijuana sales could be used for schools, veteran health care or “pot money for potholes.”
The guardrails for recreational marijuana use, McDermott said, would be prohibiting people from driving under the influence of marijuana. Anyone under the age of 21 would also be prohibited from purchasing marijuana from a dispensary for recreational use, he said.
“We’re advocating for the same types of limits you would see on alcohol,” McDermott said.
Former State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, who filed at least one bill to legalize marijuana in some form the last 10 years of her 16-year term in the legislature, said it was “inevitable” that the state Democratic Party has started pushing the issue of legalizing recreational marijuana.
When she would file marijuana legislation, Tallian said she would conduct polling of her constituents who always showed support.
“The public has always been light years ahead of the legislature on this,” Tallian said.
Where more politicians see marijuana legalization as “a winning issue,” Bennion said, is examples of success in states who have already legalized marijuana, such as political leaders in Michigan announcing that $150 million in marijuana tax revenue will go to cities, schools and transportation funds.
“People in communities across Indiana are very concerned about the strength of their schools, about adequate transportation, so this is another area where proponents of legalization talk about the positive effects of regulating and taxing marijuana,” Bennion said.
Political science experts agree that Indiana is getting closer toward legalizing marijuana in some form, but it’s hard to tell when that will occur, Bennion said. It depends on who is elected as the next governor, if the makeup of the state legislature shifts, or if the federal government takes action, she said.
In Indiana, recreational marijuana use “is not something that the Republicans are really very fond of at all,” Eisenstein said. But, she said, Republicans are largely on board with medical marijuana.
“It’s the recreational use of it that brings that divide between the parties,” Eisenstein said. “If (a bill) was targeted at just the medicinal use, I think that there would be a high likelihood of success.”
But, the legalization of recreational marijuana in Indiana will still take many years, Eisenstein said, though social change could speed that process up.
“In the short-term, which I’ll define as like 5 years, I don’t see Indiana overall state politics changing enough for the recreational use of marijuana to become legal,” Eisenstein said.
In states where marijuana legalization has passed, Eisenstein said, the states “are much more solidly blue states.”
“They had a voting public that was more in-line with it, which I would think correlates to them having statehouses and state government that was more in-line with the population putting them into office,” Eisenstein said.
But, Eisenstein said that the best way to move forward on any issue is drafting legislation and hoping it gets discussed.
“You don’t move the needle if you don’t put the item on the agenda,” Eisenstein said. “Instead of just sitting back and saying, ‘Well, you know, it’s more of a red state than a blue state and why should we even try?’ It’s like, ‘No, I mean, why not try?’ ”