Indiana’s top Senate leader says that decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana would be a “smart move” in his view, though he remains “unconvinced” that broader legalization of cannabis is in the state’s best interest.
In a wide-ranging interview published by The Indiana Lawyer this week, Senate Pro Tempore Rodric Bray (R) said he knows marijuana reform is “becoming more and more popular, of course, across the state of Indiana, and also in this building.”
“We can’t exist in a vacuum,” acknowledged the lawmaker, who has historically opposed both medical and adult-use legalization. “More than 30 states have legalized marijuana in some capacity, including those states around us.”
While Bray said he was speaking personally—”just Rod Bray talk, and not our caucus”—he described marijuana decriminalization as a better path forward, taking a more moderate approach to reform.
“I think that it would be a smart move, based on where we are in that space right now, that we decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. I don’t think that needs to be criminal at this point,” he said. “Maybe it’s an infraction or something like that, because people are obviously buying it legally in other parts of the country [and] can’t possess it when you come back here. But should that be a jailable offense at this point? Maybe not.”
Decriminalization is “something I would consider,” he added. “But we have to do that as a body.”
Lawmakers in Illinois have been eyeing various cannabis reforms recently, including both medical and adult-use cannabis legalization. In January, Gov. Mike Braun (R) said he’s “amenable” to legalizing medical marijuana but noted that he wasn’t sure whether Republican lawmakers would even take up the matter.
“When it comes to medical marijuana, I’m clear on record that I’m going to be amenable to hearing a case for it,” Braun said at the time.
Other lawmakers have been studying nearby Michigan and Illinois as guides for how to eventually legalize marijuana more broadly.
Bray, for his part, said at a December event that he doesn’t support any form of marijuana legalization.
Hellbound and Down 