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).
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