NBC reported last week that voters in three states - Colorado, Washington and Oregon - will decide in November whether they want to make marijuana legal in their states.

Several states already allow marijuana for medical purposes, with about 20 having already considered or about to consider such an option.

Indiana is stepping up now, too, if not quite going so far as to make it legal.

State Rep. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, told the Indianapolis Business Journal last week he plans to add decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana to a bill designed to better match charges and sentencings with offenses to which they're connected in the next session of the Legislature.

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Retired Logan Corrections Officer Pushing to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession.

INDIANAPOLIS - Chad Padgett is a retired juvenile corrections officer from Logansport who found himself in an unexpected place last summer: Testifying in front of the legislature's sentencing policy study committee holding a hearing on the merits of relaxing the state's marijuana laws.

Padgett, representing a national organization of former and current law enforcement officers, said locking people up for possessing pot was a waste of public resources that could be better spent targeting what he called a "true threat to society."

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INDIANAPOLIS -- An influential Republican lawmaker believes it's time for Indiana to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and plans to include language to do so in legislation to overhaul the state's criminal code.

State Sen. Brent Steele, who's played a critical role in criminal justice issues as chair of the Senate corrections committee, said the state's marijuana possession laws are too harsh. Indiana law dictates that marijuana possession is a felony unless it's a first-time offense and the amount is less than 1 ounce.

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In 1974, the federal government tried to build up a case for why marijuana should continue to be illegal, but instead found that it slowed breast cancer, lung cancer and a virus-induced form of leukemia in mice. Why have these results been ignored?

Well, all further public cannabis research was ended by the federal government through either the DEA or President Ford.

Why do we tolerate our government covering up medical advances? So the legal drug companies can make profits on synthetic THC drugs that don't work as well as real THC? Maybe.

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The war on drugs in our nation and the world doesn't make any sense and is leading to a loss of liberty.

In cities across America, police can take away your money by threatening you with jail time, even if you have no drugs in your car after being pulled over for a traffic offense.

Yes, you don't need to be charged with an actual crime under civil asset forfeiture to lose your property. Not much more than mere suspicion is necessary.

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EVANSVILLE -- Vanderburgh Superior Court's seven judges will change the way the court operates to better address issues largely linked to a rising tide of methamphetamine abuse in the county.

Chief Judge Mary Margaret Lloyd said the changes will begin in September. She said they are designed to resolve two main problems: How to better handle cases involving substance abuse and addiction issues and how to address a backlog of paternity cases in a Juvenile Court strained by a growing number of other cases.

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SOUTH BEND -- Cane in hand, 56-year-old Guy McDaniel listened as a St. Joseph County judge admitted in court that he was in favor of decriminalizing marijuana.

That admission, however, comes with limits -- one of them being 52 pounds.

In February, police arrested McDaniel at a West Washington Street home after a postal investigator reported finding something suspicious.

According to a police reports, the post office inspector contacted narcotics officers after receiving two suspicious packages en route to a South Bend home.

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For many years there has been a "war on drugs" in this country.

The phrase was itself a piece of propaganda authored by John Ehrlichman, President Richard Nixon's assistant on domestic affairs. Integral to this "war" has been an extensive and expensive assault on a substantial portion of American society people who use marijuana. Not only has it been wrong; it is a terrible failure.

My opinion, shared by a growing number of conservative, liberal and libertarian thinkers did not arise out of thin air.

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Thanks for publishing Howard Wooldridge's thoughtful letter Feb. 12: "Marijuana Prohibition Drains Law Enforcement."

Is there any legitimate reason that a natural herb that has never killed anybody should be classified the same as heroin? I think not. I know from personal experience that marijuana is a good substitute for potentially deadly painkillers such as Vicodin and is also a substitute for alcohol.

The pharmaceutical industry knows this, and so does the alcohol industry, and this is probably why marijuana remains a criminalized substance.

- - Kirk Muse,

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.

This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

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Writing as a retired Michigan street cop, you need to rethink your support for marijuana prohibition. Per the feds (and ask any teen), marijuana is today readily available, and most teens can buy pot easier than alcohol.

Worse, as my colleagues chase a green plant, we miss pedophiles raping our kids. Most marijuana retail sales are handled by teens, getting them shot and killed. Medical experts will tell you that more teens try marijuana because of the glamor of the "forbidden fruit" than are deterred by another factor.

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State Sen. Karen Tallian wants to make most marijuana possession cases misdemeanors. What a change that would be from a toke-free Indiana.

Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, did not request a committee vote on Senate Bill 347 but took nearly an hour to explain how reducing criminal penalties for marijuana possession could benefit Indiana.

It would have the effect of freeing up at least 250 beds a year in the state prison system and thousands of beds in county jails, according to the nonprofit Legislative Services Agency.

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The Indiana House passed a bill 73-23 today that would establish a pilot program for drug testing for people who receive welfare assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City, will sponsor the legislation in the Indiana Senate.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is a grant program that seeks to help recipients find jobs. Under the legislation, people who fail the test would lose their benefits from the federal-aid program, unless they enter a drug treatment program and subsequently stay off of drugs. The office of the Secretary of Family and Social Services would develop the program in three yet-to-be-determined counties. Several Democrats opposed the legislation, saying that other states do not test people under this program for drugs, and that the pilot program is not well thought out.

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Three years ago, Bloomington resident Sharon Blair lost her oldest child, 29-year-old Jennifer Reynolds, to what most people might not call a disease: drug addiction.

But Blair, 54, believes an illness is what caused her daughter's accidental overdose on Jan. 15, 2009.

"The brain is malfunctioning. It's not processing," she said. "So it is a disease. That is something no one wants to talk about."

However, Blair intends to get the attention of lawmakers in Indiana and Florida, where Blair and her family lived when her daughter died.

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Shortly before senior Kat Rodriguez's last home football game as a student, she was returning to a tailgate near Notre Dame Stadium when she tripped on a bicycle and gashed open her forehead.

Blood and beer spilled to the ground as Rodriguez, who was of legal drinking age, fell to the ground.

Senior Tom Burns and a friend saw Rodriguez fall and helped her to a Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) officer. But before doing so, a thought crossed Burns' mind -- Would Rodriguez, or his friend who was intoxicated and underage, get in trouble? "For a split second, it crossed my mind," Burns said.

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A couple weeks ago, I was going through the exciting process of ND Roll Call when I noticed something a little different: a memo to all students reminding us of the University's notably stringent drug policy.

Of course, we all know the one recreational drug to which this policy most frequently applies: marijuana. Possession alone can cost you a year's suspension from the University. It got me thinking, what is it about marijuana that inspires such widespread fear and evokes extreme punishment directed toward non-violent offenders, not only at ND, but throughout the country?

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INDIANAPOLIS | State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, knows sometimes the best way to win support for a change in the law is to give people time to get used to the idea.

That's why Tallian did not request a committee vote on Senate Bill 347 last week but still spent nearly an hour explaining to a panel of state senators how Indiana would benefit by reducing criminal penalties for marijuana possession.

Indiana's marijuana laws are among the toughest in the nation. Possession of any marijuana is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

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INDIANAPOLIS - A committee passed legislation today that is meant to help police crack down on a synthetic drug known as "bath salts," sending the bill to the full Senate for consideration.

But members of the Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee opted not to act on a bill that would have reduced penalties for those caught using marijuana.

Senate Bill 347, authored by Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, would have reduced the charges for possession of pot. Under the proposed bill, possession of less than three ounces of marijuana would have been reduced to an infraction. Similar to a speeding ticket, this offense would be accompanied by a fine but no jail time.

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FORT WAYNE -- With the help of a friend, a woman came into the Butler Police Department's lobby one day last summer gasping for breath.

Her friend immediately placed her on the floor and frantically asked officers to call an ambulance. The woman, described by Butler police as in her early to mid-20s, wheezed as she said it felt as if an elephant were sitting on her chest.

Later, medics and police learned she had been smoking synthetic marijuana - a substance becoming popular among those who want to get high legally and resistant to state lawmakers' attempts to eradicate its sale, distribution and use.

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Bulletin: Michael Shafer turned himself in to the Gibson County Sheriff's Office Saturday afternoon and remains in custody with bond set at $50,000 cash. He's scheduled for arraignment Tuesday morning. Shafer was sought by authorities for a week in connection with the discovery of a meth lab on the main campus of East Gibson schools in Oakland city before Christmas break.

OAKLAND CITY -- Oakland City Police Chief Alec Hensley and East Gibson schools superintendent Franzy Fleck faced a crowd of upset parents Friday afternoon in the Wood Memorial Junior High Cafetorium, where the crowd had the opportunity to air their views, their suggestions and ask questions to police about the discovery of a one-pot methamphetamine lab found on campus Dec. 21.

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