Medical Cannabis Bill Drafted for Upcoming Indiana Session

Indiana state Sen. Greg Taylor (D) has drafted a medical cannabis legalization bill for consideration in the upcoming session, radio news station 95.3 MNC reports. Taylor said that the bill is aimed at Hoosiers who already drive to neighboring states to obtain cannabis products for medicinal use.

Taylor said that with 36 states with some form of cannabis legislation, “Indiana is about to be sitting on an island by themselves” without either medical or adult-use cannabis laws.

“Hoosiers, especially our veterans living with chronic pain, shouldn’t be forced to move to our neighboring states just so they can receive medical treatment to address issues that medical cannabis has been shown to help with.” — Taylor in a statement via Eagle Country Online

Last month, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb said he remains opposed to any type of cannabis legalization in the state unless the federal government implements its own reforms. The legislature is also controlled by a Republican supermajority.

“[The federal government has] still not done anything to make it legal,” he said in the WANE interview. “I am not opposed to researching marijuana for the potential and possible positive medicinal uses. To do that, obviously, it would go through the same exact process that any other drug would go through to go to market – the [Food and Drug Administration] process.”

Taylor said that were the federal government to take even the modest step of rescheduling cannabis to a Schedule II substance, “the benefits to the state of Indiana drastically decrease because the federal government is gonna want a piece of the pie, as well.”

“So, if we don’t take that affirmative step very soon, we’re gonna be on the precipice of the federal government moving this to Schedule II, which would then allow it to be bankable,” he told 95.3 MNC. “At that point, the sky’s the limit because it won’t be an illegal drug.”