The Republican stronghold in Indiana’s House rejected an amendment on Jan. 27 that attempted to remove cannabis from the state’s list of Schedule I controlled substances.
The amendment, offered by Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, was to strike cannabis from the language of House Bill 1056, GOP-sponsored legislation that intends to add additional substances to the state’s list of controlled substances—including several opiates and opium derivatives—not subtract any.
Miller’s amendment also aimed to strike a section of the bill that includes THC and synthetic equivalents of substances contained in the cannabis plant.
The amendment would have essentially legalized cannabis in Indiana, one of just eight states that remains absent of even a highly restrictive medical cannabis program such as the one in Texas, where THC is capped at 1%.
However, House Republicans voted on party lines, 66-29, that Miller’s amendment was out of order.
“This was an opportunity to start the conversation about the possibility of legalizing marijuana in our state, and House Republicans have signaled they aren’t interested in bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to Indiana,” Miller said in a statement following the vote.
When it comes to legalization, Indiana remains on an island of its own, surrounded by adult-use states Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, and medical cannabis state Kentucky. Michigan’s cannabis sales in 2024 netted roughly $500 million in state revenue from a 10% excise tax and a 6% sales tax, according to the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency.
While state legalization resembles restorative justice and public safety opportunities—to help right the wrongs of law enforcement disparities and to provide tested products that cannabis consumers otherwise seek from unregulated avenues—pro-legalization lawmakers in conservative states often point to the fiscal implications of a licensed marketplace to help sway public opinion.
“If they don’t want to have this discussion, I think they owe it to Hoosiers to explain why they don’t want to grow our economy like 24 states have done using marijuana,” Miller said. “They also owe an explanation to chronically ill Hoosiers who could benefit from a medicinal marijuana program, which 38 states in the country have, why they are so inclined to limit their access to drugs that could alleviate some of their suffering.”
Nebraska became the 39th state to legalize medical cannabis in the November election, while another three states, Texas, Georgia and Iowa, have legalized highly restrictive medical programs. Indiana is one of the nation’s last holdouts.
Top Republican leaders in Indiana’s General Assembly indicated last month that their opposition to legalization remains strong.
“It’s no secret that I am not for this,” Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray said on Dec. 18 during a panel at the annual Dentons Legislative Conference in Indianapolis. “I don’t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases as to why it’s so beneficial. And any state that I’ve seen pass medical marijuana is essentially passing recreational marijuana.”
House Speaker Todd Huston offered a similar take, suggesting that state legalization is more about aligning state coffers with tax revenue than it is about medical benefits.
“I don’t believe public policy should ever be built based off revenue,” Huston said. “On any public policy, I don’t think you should chase revenue.”
That doesn’t mean cannabis isn’t on the legislative table for the 2025 session. Republican-sponsored House Bill 1178 would legalize medical cannabis in Indiana. So would bipartisan Senate Bill 113.
These bills come as 87% of Indiana adults support legalizing medical cannabis, according to the 2024 Hoosier Survey conducted in November 2024 by the Bowen Center for Public Affairs.
Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun, who was elected to his first term as governor in November, indicated an openness to medical cannabis reform in December while commenting on public support for the issue during an interview with WEHT.
“To me, that’s probably a sign that we need to do whatever the smartest method has been among the other 30-plus states that have done it, and it’s probably time for it to have found its way to Indiana—on the medical side,” Braun said.
A supermajority shot down a Democrat’s attempt to delist cannabis from the state’s list of controlled substances. Read More
