Indiana Cannabis Legalization Bill Fails to Advance

The cannabis legalization proposal led by Safe and Regulated Indiana, a coalition of Indiana House Republicans, has failed to advance this session, FOX 59 reports. The failure follows the January rejection by House Republicans of a proposal to remove cannabis from Schedule I under state law, marking the end of legislative efforts to legalize and/or decriminalize cannabis this session.

“There’s always the next year,” said Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston (R). ”I don’t believe in doing…policy based upon revenue. I think you do good public policy and you deal with the revenue, and that’s the way I feel about the marijuana issue.”

But while the adult-use legalization and decriminalization bills have failed, Republican Gov. Mike Braun has expressed interest in medical cannabis reforms, professing during debates last year that medical cannabis legalization “makes sense.” House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta (D) said Democrats will still pursue medical cannabis legalization this session.

”We’ll keep trying, I mean, we have a whole second half. There’s an amendment process, too, that we can always, if there’s an opportunity we’ll do that because our caucus is in full support of that.” — GiaQuinta, in the report

Lawmakers did pass one cannabis-related proposal, the report said, setting a THC limit to determine whether a driver is legally under the influence.