Editor's note: Kaira Carter is a reporter for Ball Bearings Magazine.
For second-year political science student Isaach Watkins, driving to visit family in Coldwater County means crossing the state border into Michigan. One of the first things Watkins encounters upon crossing are advertisements for legalized marijuana, located only a 20-minute drive away from Angola, Indiana.
The accessibility and normality of legalized drugs have become apparent to Watkins.
“It’s like going to McDonald’s for some people,” Watkins said. “I think advertising normalizes it to a degree … If you see advertising for it, it just seems like, ‘Oh, I'm buying a beer’ or something.”
With the states surrounding Indiana each having laws legalizing marijuana, it is easy for Indiana residents to cross state borders and see similar advertisements. Despite almost half of the country legalizing the drug, Indiana continues to ban and criminalize marijuana.
From a federal perspective, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug. According to the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), a Schedule I drug has “high potential for dependency and no accepted medical use, making distribution of cannabis a federal offense.”
However, while marijuana is considered illegal at the federal level in the United States, individual states can determine the legality of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use. In a state with a conservative majority like Indiana, marijuana can only be legalized should the state legislators choose to put it on the ballot.
Associate professor of political science at Ball State University Chad Kinsella, who teaches classes on state government and public administration, explains the relationship between state legislature and state laws.
“There is no way to put it on the ballot unless the state legislature does ahead of time,” Kinsella said. “To do it, it would have to be passed by two-thirds of the state legislature in consecutive sessions.”
The state legislature has not approved legalization, meaning the Indiana laws against marijuana are in full effect. According to the Indiana Code of Law (IC 35-48-4-1), knowingly growing, possessing, or distributing marijuana is a criminal offense and would require an offender to get a criminal defense lawyer in court.
Chad Dickerson, CEO and founder of the Viridis Law firm located in Indianapolis, is an attorney who specializes in cannabis cases in Indiana and advocates for cannabis legalization. He is also a member of the Indiana branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
He takes action to support his clients with cannabis-related cases.
“Many people find cannabis helps them cope with their lives,” Dickerson said. “They get a stress reliever. It’s no worse than what people use alcohol and other drugs for. I don't think [criminalization] is right, so I'm an advocate for reforming the laws that we have in Indiana.”
Indiana drug possession laws state that possessing less than 5 grams of marijuana without a previous offense can result in a Class B misdemeanor and 1 to 180 days of jail time.
Alternatively, owning more than 30 grams of marijuana and having a previous offense can result in a Level 6 felony and six months to two years of jail time. The penalties only continue to rise if someone in Indiana attempts to grow or distribute marijuana.
If someone is apprehended for carrying marijuana, the punishment often depends on county laws. The county prosecutor determines what amount of marijuana is considered a passable amount.
“Right now, I have a case in southern Indiana with somebody who is facing five months in jail who had a third of an ounce in their car,” Dickerson said. “Anybody in possession of what [the county prosecutor] considers a personal amount, they're not going to get prosecuted. But in other counties, people face jail time for the smallest amounts.”
The lack of uniform marijuana laws in the state creates more cases for Dickerson. In 2023, the Bowen Center of Public Affairs at Ball State University conducted a statewide survey, known as the Hoosier Survey, covering public policy opinions.
After receiving 600 responses to the survey from sample groups all over Indiana, the results showed that 52.2 percent of Indiana residents support marijuana legalization. An additional 32.2 percent support the medicinal use of marijuana.
The 2023 Hoosier Survey indicated that about 80 percent of Indiana residents support legalization efforts either for medicinal or recreational uses.
“I think a big problem is that Indiana is not democratic,” Watkins said. “We're not a democracy. It's not representative of the people, broadly speaking.”
According to Kinsella, state legislators have yet to decide whether marijuana legalization should be a priority.
“It’s not only that the state legislature isn’t worried about it,” Kinsella said. “There are a lot of groups, like the Chamber of Commerce [and] the Sheriff’s Association, that are not interested in moving forward with that, and they have a lot of sway in the state legislature.”
Dickerson, on the other hand, is optimistic about the fight for legalization. His conversations with state legislators indicate that legislators like Brad Chambers, Jennifer McCormick and Donald Rainwater are open to marijuana legalization.
Dickerson believes the biggest issue comes from a lack of voter communication with their state legislators.
“It's important for Hoosiers to speak to their legislators and let them know it's an important issue to them,” Dickerson said. “Legislators tell us all the time, ‘Well, no one says anything. It's not important.’ But we speak to people, and it's important to them. They just feel like they don't have a voice.”
For Indiana residents who want to be a voice for change, Dickerson suggests they visit the online Indiana chapter of NORML and communicate with their state and county legislators through the portal about what changes they want to see.
For those without a strong opinion on marijuana, Watkins offers this advice: regulation through legalization.
“I think the way we are currently regulating it is just by punishing people,” Watkins said. “It’s not in any way reducing usage or reducing negative consequences of [marijuana]. I think legalization is the only way that those things can be achieved.”
Contact Kaira Carter via email at kaira.carter@bsu.edu.
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