I’m sorry to report that Indiana Senator Michael Young, Chairman of the Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law, has refused to schedule our Decrim bill, S.B. 0580 for a hearing, so we have no legislation pending at this time. There is a bill, S.B. 196, that would remove up to 30 grams of Marijuana from the Habitual Offender statutes, and it is expected to pass, and we will redirect our efforts towards that bill.
We have made great inroads to the Indiana Farmers Union as we presented to them last Saturday and their board voted unanimously to support our efforts in both Hemp and Marijuana. I’m afraid it was too late to have an effect on S.B. 580, but it does give us a strong, new ally for next year.
Indiana is one of the few states that still have a part time legislature, so advances in law come at a snail’s pace. We have made many new friends and hope to have even a broader base of support for 2014.
We had an excellent rally at our Statehouse yesterday, making sure they heard our voices in support of reform, and we got an overall excellent response from both public and government officials. At least two police officers picked up LEAP information. I did notice that, several times during the day, the Indiana State Police led dogs through the area.
It’s a delay in progress, to be sure, but we’re undaunted. They know we’re not going away, and we won’t disappoint them in that manner.
Onward through the fog!
Find more like this: Criminal Justice, Hemp, Indiana, Indiana NORML, Legalization, Legislation
I really do not understand how one person can decide that a vote cannot take place. A hearing would have at least aloud the majority to approve or disapprove the bill. It’s too bad that Indiana is not a state like Colorado where the general public has the opportunity to actually implement their ideas.
There is a legislative remedy, in that the members of a committee can demand of the chairman he/she set a hearing date, but there seems to be a lack of political will to do that. This is why it’s critical that people participate in the political system and be more aware of the people they send to office.
I cannot help but wonder about the “what if” of the past November election for Governor here in Indiana. If either of the two men running against Governor Pence had won, would they have kept their campaign promise to be open to the discussion of decrimilaztion of marijuana laws? As a farmer, I would welcome the opportunity to participate in a growing Hemp industry. We MUST stand up and demand that the individuals we elected to office represent, what appears to me, as a growing majority of voters in favor of decimalizing laws related to marijuana and hemp production.
what would it take to have a referendum in indiana?
It’s a long, drawn out process as a change in the state Constitution would be necessary. It would have to be passed by two consecutive sessions of the legislature before it would be placed on the ballot to allow the change in the Constitution. Then, assuming they did it right, we would have to start the voter referendum process. That would require tens of thousands of signatures just to get on the ballot, and we would be a good five years away from reaching this, at best. Personally, I favor such a change in spite of the work as it does give the people more direct power over government. A few of us tried to do this in 2005, and there was too little interest to accomplish anything. It would require a massive movement of people to get this done.