INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Legislature is poised to allow anyone to purchase and use a cannabis-derived extract believed to have therapeutic benefits, following a key vote by the state Senate on Monday. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from marijuana and hemp, though the substance, typically sold as an oil, lacks enough of the main psychoactive component THC to get high. Lawmakers approved a law last year allowing those with severe forms of epilepsy to purchase and possess CBD. But the law conflicted with an earlier industrial hemp law approved by the Legislature, and no sooner had it gone into effect than state excise police cracked down on the sale of CBD. [continues 291 words]
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana House has passed a resolution calling for a study of the benefits of medical marijuana. The resolution was approved Thursday without opposition and comes as 29 other states have passed laws allowing medical marijuana in some form. Republican majority leader Matt Lehman of Berne says it's time for a legislative study committee to conduct its own research. The measure is backed by Rep. Jim Lucas, a Libertarian-leaning Republican from Seymour is an outspoken advocate for legalizing medical marijuana. [continues 53 words]
An Indiana high school teacher was arrested on drug charges Wednesday after her students said they saw her using cocaine in her classroom. Lake Central High School junior Will Rogers told WGN9 he shot video of the incident through a classroom window. "She's in the corner, hiding with a chair and a book and what appears to be cocaine, putting it into lines," Rogers told the TV station. "When I actually watched the footage again and again and I just realized that my english teacher just did cocaine." [continues 117 words]
An Indiana court has overturned a man's felony drug convictions because of a SWAT team's "unreasonable" search that endangered an infant, a decision that highlights growing concerns about the militarization of routine police work. The SWAT team executed a "military-style assault" and detonated a flash-bank grenade in close proximity to a 9-month-old after a confidential informant told detectives that he had seen marijuana, cocaine and a firearm in the home, according to the Indiana Court of Appeals' enumeration of the facts of the case. [continues 1243 words]
PENDLETON, Ind. - An Indiana inmate who died of unknown causes was once accused of being a leader of a drug ring operating out of state prisons. Pendleton Correctional Facility Superintendent Dushan Zatecky said 32-year-old [name redacted], of Crawfordsville, died Monday at St. Vincent's Anderson Regional Hospital. Madison County Coroner Marian Dunnichay told The (Anderson) Herald-Bulletin that an autopsy did not find a medical reason for [name redacted]'s death. She said a toxicology report would take three to four weeks. [continues 216 words]
But Doctors Need Court Order to Give Results to Police INDIANAPOLIS - A surge in heroin and painkiller abuse - and a related spike in the number of drug-dependent newborns - has doctors calling for drug tests for all pregnant women. But, first, doctors and health officials want lawmakers to shield addicted, expectant mothers from punishment. The Legislature has taken a first step, quietly passing a measure to prohibit doctors from giving results of a pregnant woman's drug tests to police without a court order. [continues 670 words]
Odds Against Indiana Legislators Backing Medical Marijuana The husband and father was near death from Crohn's Disease in 2009. Over a three-month period, his weight dropped from about 175 pounds to 117 pounds. He had his large intestine, colon and rectum removed, and he was largely confined to his bed or a chair. He had no appetite and was surviving largley on IV fluid. He was so worried about accidentally jarring the stapled incision in his abdomen that his muscles ached from the constant tension. [continues 1159 words]
INDIANAPOLIS - As heroin use surges, local prosecutors are pressing to restore tough penalties for drug dealers and users, less than two years after sentencing laws were relaxed to clear prisons of drug offenders. Dustin Houchin, prosecuting attorney in Washington County, cited cases across the state where some people charged with dealing heroin now face just a year in prison - not enough, he said, to set them straight. "That just strikes me as fundamentally too low for someone selling poison to people in my community," said Houchin. His rural county, like other areas, has seen a surge in heroin overdoses in the past two years. [continues 682 words]
The Fort Wayne Allen County Board of Health took a closer look on Monday at national and local trends in the illegal use of opiates. Capt. Kevin Hunter of the Fort Wayne Police Department gave an overview of what is going on nationally and in the city. Since 2013, many prescription opiate abusers have turned to heroin as a cheaper, more readily available source to feed their addictions. According to Hunter, today's heroin, which comes from Mexico, is much stronger and more addictive than the drug of the 1960s and 1970s. Most users are injecting the drug, which is a public-health concern. Recently police have seen an uptick in the number of people using fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid used as a pain reliever and anesthetic. It is a schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Recently three people died from overdoses of the drug, which was sold to them as heroin. [continues 415 words]
INDIANAPOLIS - On the altar, behind a row of flickering candles, the silhouette outline of a marijuana leaf shined in lights. Colored balloons occasionally bounced through the air as the minister of music led a band in a pew-shaking rendition of "Mary Jane," the funk tribute to the drug. And Bill Levin, who was introduced as "the Grand Poobah" of this new church, finished the gathering with a simple message: "Light up, folks!" As legislation that proponents call a religious freedom law took effect in Indiana on Wednesday, Mr. Levin's First Church of Cannabis held its first service in a quiet neighborhood on this city's Eastside. Mr. Levin, who is 59 and known around here for his wild puff of white hair, dreamed up the church as a way to test the state's new, much-debated law: If the law protects religious practices, he figured, how could it not also permit marijuana use - which remains illegal here - as part of a broader spiritual philosophy? [continues 709 words]
Tax Designation As Charitable Organization Allows Contributors to Deduct Donations. Emotions appeared sky high at the newly formed First Church of Cannabis, after the Internal Revenue Service granted it nonprofit status. "What a GLORIOUS DAY it is folks," the church's founder Bill Levin wrote in a post on Facebook announcing that the IRS had approved making the church a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. "WE ARE 100 % a LEGAL CHURCH... All say HALLELUJAH and SMILE REAL BIG!... We are OFFICIAL!" [continues 390 words]
I would rather see cannabis made legal than all the problems with heroin. Wake up, people. Marijuana is not killing our kids. Heroin is. Deb Asbury Lafayette [end]
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana approved a yearlong needleexchange program Thursday for a county at the center of an HIV outbreak that prompted a new state law allowing such programs. State health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams' approval for Scott County includes a public-health emergency declaration that will allow it to operate a needle exchange through May 24, 2016. The southeastern Indiana county has operated a temporary needle-exchange since early April under executive orders Gov. Mike Pence signed in response to the largest HIV outbreak in state history. [continues 128 words]
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Governor Mike Pence overrode Indiana law and his own antidrug policies Thursday to authorize a short-term needle-exchange program designed to help contain HIV infections in a rural county where 79 cases have been reported, all of them tied to intravenous drug use. Pence issued an executive order declaring a public health emergency in Scott County, an economically depressed area about 30 miles north of Louisville, Ky., that has seen dozens of new infections since December. The county typically sees only about five HIV cases each year, health officials said. [continues 89 words]
It would seem that the decision to invite Michelle Alexander, author of the book "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," to speak Monday at Saint Mary's College was inspired by stories ripped from recent headlines. Instead, Mana Derakhshani, a French professor and associate director of the Center for Women's Intercultural Leadership at Saint Mary's, says part of her interest in the book stemmed from her desire to find good material for a faculty reading group. [continues 667 words]
Some legislators and citizens are ready to legalize marijuana. Then Indiana would gain needed revenue dollars, people with certain medical conditions might benefit and everyone would live high and happy thereafter. End of story? Not. Look at the total picture. When discussing drugs, always keep in mind that the human brain is still developing until about the age of 25. Drugs that might not affect an older person's brain could cause drastic and permanent damage to a young person's developing brain. Long-term marijuana users who started using when young were later found to have a drop in their IQ. [continues 386 words]
The Greencastle Community School Corporation will present the program "What Parents Should Know: Drugs and Their Children" on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at Greencastle High School's Parker Auditorium. Any parent who has a child from fourth grade up is invited to attend. The free 6:30 p.m. program is for parents only. No students or other children will be allowed to attend. Purpose of the session is to help parents know and look for the possibility of drug use in their children. Schools have been seeing a lot more drug use and discipline problems because of poor decisions and peer pressure. [continues 424 words]
MUNCIE - One of the backers of a medical marijuana bill introduced by Sen. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, is the father of a Muncie woman who died in her 30s of a terminal illness. "Her dad told me her best days were when she could get high-grade marijuana," Errington says. The fifth annual "Hoosier Survey," conducted in 2012 by Ball State University, found that 53 percent of Hoosiers supported decriminalizing marijuana by making it legal to possess small quantities. The 2013 "Hoosier Survey" found that 52 percent of Hoosiers supported making marijuana a regulated substance much like alcohol and tobacco, and that 78 percent of Hoosiers believed that marijuana should be taxed like cigarettes. [continues 666 words]
Two Democrats - one in the Senate and one in the House - have introduced bills that would allow the use of medical marijuana in Indiana. Senate Bill 284, by Sen. Karen Tallian, and House Bill 1487, by Rep. Sue Errington, would allow people with a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana for medical purposes. Tallian's bill would create the Department of Marijuana Enforcement, or DOME, which would oversee a program for those who use marijuana for treatment. The Democrat from Portage has long fought for legalization of marijuana in Indiana, but her efforts have failed. She has introduced bills that would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Two bills Tallian wrote the past two years died without a hearing. [continues 172 words]
Once upon a time, I stood in a batter's box and faced a baseball pitcher who threw so hard I could not even see the ball. I just heard it go by. The 1960s were like that, too. I apparently missed the 1960s though I was standing in the batter's box. Missed drug temptation and curiosity, except for Novocain. It's a gap in my life, which probably means I won't be enlisting in the "transformational" anti-drug crusade in Porter County. [continues 657 words]
DR. WALLACE: I'm an 18-year-old female. I have never taken any type of illegal drug in my entire life, and I seriously doubt that I ever will. I'm also positive that all of my many close friends are drug-free, and we all talk about not getting involved with guys who are doing drugs. We are thinking that it must be a male thing to be into drugs. Do you agree? - - Nameless, Goshen, Indiana NAMELESS: I agree. The American Council on Drug Education has stated that of teen drug addicts, 72 percent are males. But females do become addicted to drugs, and their addiction is every bit as serious as addiction for males. Please read the following letter from a young mother who had a difficult time overcoming her drug habit: [continues 349 words]
Despite the efforts of area educators, law enforcement and medical personnel, the death toll from drugs continues to climb in Tippecanoe County as area residents succumb in increasing numbers to the suffocating grip of addiction. Accidental drug overdoses killed more people here last year than in any of the previous 20 years, according to the findings of a report compiled by Deputy Coroner Matt Wietbrock. And Coroner Donna Avolt said a preliminary review of this year's deaths suggests the region is on pace to tie 2013's unprecedented high. [continues 1063 words]
The war on marijuana is a smashing and overwhelming success, if you measure success by how many violations of civil rights, liberties and constitutional rights it has generated. In a far-flung suburb of Chicago named Shorewood, the Drug Enforcement Agency and local cops entered the house of Angela Kirking for shopping for organic fertilizer. It seems that in itself is reasonable suspicion, if you shop at an Illinois home-and-garden store. Police ran her plates and found her address. They looked through her garbage, which supposedly had a marijuana scent to it. Also, her electric bill was deemed too high. Finally, they got a judge to sign off on a warrant. [continues 114 words]
Judy Brown smokes pot on a regular basis and she's not afraid to say so. "I need it to help offset my chronic pain from injuries I sustained in a car accident in 1986," the LaPorte woman told me while waiting to see her pain management physician. Along with her husband, Brown, 60, sat in the office lobby of Indiana University Health in Michigan City and studied a word puzzle. The elusive words she continues to search for in this state, however, are "medical marijuana." [continues 878 words]
The legalization of marijuana is becoming an ongoing issue and is one that doesn't deserve all of the media attention that it gets. On March 14, an article was written in The New York Times titled "Medical Marijuana Bill Dies in Washington State." The article was aimed toward the House and Senate attempting to pass a bill that would bring Washington state's largely unregulated medical marijuana system under control of local governments. The amendments were made anticipating that revenue from marijuana sales could be distributed to local governments. Many medical marijuana dispensaries and patients opposed the new regulations fearing that their system would be crushed by the commercial market. [continues 133 words]
Ind. Considers Bill to Allow Farmers to Grow Hemp. Indianapolis, IN - Gregg Baumbaugh has 4,000 pounds of cannabis sitting in his automobile parts manufacturing plant. It wasn't illegal for him to import it, but it's against the law for Indiana farmers to grow the variety of cannabis he buys in bulk. Baumbaugh wants to see that changed. The "weed" he uses to make the insides of interior doors and armrests at his Elkhart County facility doesn't have enough of the psychoactive ingredient THC to give anyone a marijuana mind-altering high. [continues 673 words]
We as a nation continue to engage in a war on drugs, which is predominately focused on arrests for marijuana, that violates our basic civil rights. In New Mexico, David Eckert was subject to digital anal penetration in order to search for drugs in his body. All from a common traffic stop and a drug sniffing dog supposedly smelling drugs on/in him. In the end he got a huge medical bill when not found with any drugs. Also in New Mexico, a woman experienced (with a vaginal search thrown in) the same dehumanizing procedure off of a drug dog search. [continues 96 words]
The time has come for Indiana to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis just like alcohol. Every time I read someone's name in the arrest section for marijuana possession, I am stricken with a profound sense of injustice. Indeed, if the person has driven under the influence, or has otherwise caused trouble, then on that basis they should be punished. But the simple act of possessing or using cannabis should not be a crime. If the burden were mine to justify legalization, I could fill several pages of newsprint making a persuasive case. The evidence is overwhelming. But in a nation that is supposed to be founded on freedom, it should be the burden of the prohibitionist to justify why an adult citizen should be deprived of his liberty for consuming a relatively benign natural substance. If such a case were made on the basis of harm, then the prohibitionist should be equally willing to outlaw alcohol, tobacco and nearly every form of junk food available. All of these are infinitely more harmful than cannabis. [continues 152 words]
Gee, 90 years ago, if someone had snitched on me, I could have gotten arrested for making gin in my own bathtub for my personal use. Wow, now someone gets arrested for growing plants in their basement. If the good doctor had been in another state, such as Washington, nothing would have happened. Sometimes criminality is just a question of geography! Ray Andersen, Newburgh [end]
La PORTE - Officials say it is up to the community as a whole to combat substance abuse in the area, starting with the most prevalent drug of choice - heroin. Following the recent arrests of citizens caught dealing or using heroin and the deaths of young adults following overdoses of the drug, grieving families have organized a walk for heroin awareness. La Porte resident Chris Day and his family were recently directly affected when Ethan Day was found dead in his home with his girlfriend on June 4. Ethan's toxicology report stated his death was a result of heroin, benzodiazepines and alcohol in his system. [continues 1394 words]
Regarding Andrea Neal's June 14 column, the days when our federal government can get away with confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. [continues 54 words]
"For first time, majority in U.S. supports public smoking ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws. "Majority now supports legalizing marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have legalized medical marijuana, decriminalized recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has flirted with the idea. [continues 536 words]
Regarding Andrea Neal's June 4 column, if the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. It's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana. - - Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C. [end]
Columnist Andrea Neal has quaffed heartily of the Prohibition Kool-Aid. Her column is major league jerky knee. If she is so miffed on smoking, perhaps she should peruse the writings of Donald Tashkin of the University of California, Los Angeles, while eating a cannabis medible. This is not the end of western civilization; it is but our governance slowly catching up to reality. Don't smoke it if you don't want to. It's a free country and all. But please quit putting people like me in jail for our tastes, our appetites. It is not fair, and you know it. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch, Calif. [end]
"For First Time, Majority in U.S. Supports Public Smoking Ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws. "Majority Now Supports Legalizing Marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have moved to legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has been flirting with the idea. [continues 565 words]
"For First Time, Majority in U.S. Supports Public Smoking Ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws. "Majority Now Supports Legalizing Marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have moved to legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has been flirting with the idea. [continues 564 words]
Thanks for publishing Mike Travelstead's thoughtful letter: "Making sense of marijuana debate" (April 14). I'd like to add that those who think that marijuana prohibition somehow protects our children and society, I'd like them to view a short Youtube video featuring former California Superior Court Judge James P. Gray. Go to Youtube.com and search for "Judge Jim Gray" or search for "Law Enforcement Against Prohibition." You will see that marijuana prohibition substantially increases all other crime. Back in the 1960s, police solved more than 90 percent of all homicides. Today they solve just over 60 percent. Why? Because of our so-called war on drugs. There are great financial incentives for police to make drug busts and confiscate the drug dealers' money and property, but no financial incentive to solve rapes or murders. - - Kirk Muse [end]
I have been listening to the debate about marijuana laws. The argument being made to keep pot illegal which I have no problem with is that it keeps pot away from our kids. But applying that argument to alcohol makes me ask why alcohol is not illegal? The CDC and the AMA state that there are 75,000 alcohol-related deaths a year, and 50 percent of adult auto fatalities and 39 percent of teen auto fatalities are alcoholrelated. They state that alcohol, not pot, is the most abused drug in the USA. [continues 331 words]
I'm not a politician but a pastor. I know little of the process a state engages in to write or overturn a law. However, I'm near 60 years old and over 38 years ago I tried multiple substances in an effort to dull my senses, emotions and/or "get high." Years ago, as it is still today, the use of marijuana is one of those drugs that aids in reaching that euphoric "high" that the user desires. It was then and is today (with most users) like a drug in "step therapy," when the use of one drug doesn't quite do it you go to the next more powerful choice that provides what the previous couldn't. [continues 426 words]
Push For Marijuana Decriminalization Alive And Well In Indiana. INDIANAPOLIS - The politics of pot may keep Indiana lawmakers from rolling back the state's tough marijuana laws this session, but it won't eradicate the push for decriminalization. State Sen. Karen Tallian, a Democrat from Portage, has vowed to bring back a bill next year that would turn most marijuana possession offenses into an infraction, the same as a speeding ticket. Tallian is convinced her proposal, first introduced two years ago, is gaining traction among the public and with some conservative legislators -- despite opposition from Republican Gov. Mike Pence. [continues 848 words]
INDIANAPOLIS - In the flurry of activity at the Statehouse in recent weeks, I missed reporting some sad news for stoners: The legislation to decriminalize marijuana is dead. State Sen. Karen Tallian's bill to make possession of 2 ounces of marijuana into an infraction, like a speeding ticket, died when it didn't get a hearing in the Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law before a critical deadline passed. Tallian's response was anything but mellow. The Democratic grandmother from Ogden Dunes told The Times of Northwest Indiana reporter Dan Carden: "I don't understand why they refused to even hear it. We have certainly heard some really idiotic bills in that committee." [continues 446 words]
Both Republicans, Democrats Call for Lighter Penalties. INDIANAPOLIS - On the subject of Indiana's marijuana laws, state Sen. Karen Tallian may be in the minority for the present, but even on the other side of the political aisle, she's gaining some allies. The Michigan City Democrat has been in the media for her marijuana bill, which proposes turning most possession offenses into an infraction, the same as a speeding ticket. The law doesn't consider an infraction to be a criminal offense. [continues 494 words]
Mistakes As Teens Haunt Adults, Legislator Says INDIANAPOLIS - On the subject of Indiana's marijuana laws, state Sen. Karen Tallian may be in the minority for the present, but even on the other side of the political aisle, she's gaining some allies. The Michigan City Democrat has been in the media for her marijuana bill, which proposes turning most possession offenses into an infraction, the same as a speeding ticket. The law doesn't consider an infraction to be a criminal offense. [continues 676 words]
This is response you the Tribune-Star editorial of Dec. 17, "Don't let pot smoke obscure bigger issue." Indiana legislators need to consider that penalties for minor marijuana offenses do little other than burden otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal records. The voters of Colorado and Washington state have made it clear that legislators can no longer get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a plant. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a failure. [continues 73 words]
Ah, the great American West, where man can generally breathe free and also inhale - woman, too. Thank you, thank you, voters in Colorado and Washington state, for legalizing marijuana. But will Washington, D.C., leave you alone? Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that the Justice Department will weigh its response to the state referenda. A new national poll finds 58 percent of Americans in favor of making marijuana legal and only 39 percent against. A raft of other state laws easing the prohibition on pot and growing public contempt for the existing law should be enough to change the policy. And so should a basic sense of decency. [continues 515 words]
The national buzz over decriminalized marijuana is threatening to cast a smoky pall over a vitally important, long-time-coming improvement in Indiana's criminal sentencing laws that deserves to gain General Assembly approval in 2013. Don't confuse the limited legalization of pot in Washington state and Colorado with what is happening in Indiana. Instead of making possession of even a small quantity of marijuana legal, Indiana is, so far, taking another approach. Here, an arm of the General Assembly, the Criminal Code Evaluation Committee, will put forth recommendations on marijuana possession violations as part of a comprehensive balancing of penalties - the sentences those convicted of crimes receive. That committee's work, some of which stretches back at least three years, is designed to better use Indiana's prison capacity and corrections dollars to punish the most serious offenses, such as rape, child molesting and other violent crimes. [continues 567 words]
Indiana State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell should be commended for speaking out against drug war failure. Police time spent arresting marijuana consumers is police time not spent going after child molesters, rapists and murderers -- real crimes with real victims. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a failure. The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. It's time to stop the arrests and instead tax legal marijuana. Robert Sharpe is a policy analyst with Common Sense for Drug Policy. [end]
Indiana State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell created a stir last week when he said that if left to him, he would legalize and then tax marijuana. Left to us, and we suspect to a majority of Hoosiers, it is not going to happen anytime soon. One day, it will likely happen in Indiana and most other states -- that is, the decriminalization of marijuana use. Fifteen states have already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, as two Indiana lawmakers have proposed. And just last month, Colorado and Washington voted to legalize the use of marijuana, while voters in one other state, Oregon, turned down legalization this year. [continues 335 words]
The head of the Indiana State Police may have surprised legislators last week when he told a state budget committee that he personally favored legalizing marijuana. But the push to rethink Indiana's pot laws isn't new. A legislative commission set up three years ago to review Indiana's criminal code is recommending that the Indiana General Assembly overhaul the state's drug laws to reduce penalties for low-level marijuana and other drug crimes. The commission's recommendations don't include legalizing pot or even decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug. [continues 705 words]
State police superintendent said he'd legalize and tax it EVANSVILLE -- Local law enforcement officials brushed off comments last week by the head of the Indiana State Police that appeared to support the legalization of marijuana and said they don't expect the state's laws on the drug to change any time soon. During an appearance in front of panel of state legislators Tuesday, State police Superintendent Paul Whitesell said marijuana was "going to stay" and that if he could he would legalize and tax it. [continues 607 words]
Inside Indiana
