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Indiana state officials are holding a series of meetings with medical marijuana advocates at the direction of the Republican governor.
One day after the Trump administration announced that federal cannabis rescheduling is moving forward, officials from the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and other state agencies sat down with Hoosier Veterans for Medical Cannabis and Indiana NORML to discuss potential next steps at the state level.
The meetings, activists said, came at the request of Gov. Mike Braun (R).
“The governor has reached out to us to meet with other heads within his department to get their intake on this move,” military veteran Jeff Staker, one of the advocates, told Fox 59. “Our next step, hopefully, will be in the governor’s office.”
Lucy Luman, who is also a veteran and serves as chair of Indiana NORML, said that federal reform “does address the major challenges that our legislators have put forward previously.”
The advocates previously met with Indiana Secretary of Business Affairs Mike Speedy, they told WHTR-TV.
“It tells you that the governor’s really taken a close look at this, and I’m hoping that our organization and others can get in the governor’s office and have that discussion with him and brainstorm further,” Staker said. “You got to realize that a lot of our state legislators have been waiting for exactly this to happen.”
“The feds have made their move, and now it’s time for Indiana to make ours,” he said. “And of course, we want to do it right.”
State Rep. Jim Lucas (R) said that federal marijuana rescheduling “takes away the arguments that the opposition had in our state.”
State Sen. Rodney Pol (D) agreed, saying the Trump administration’s action “has helped move the ball.”
Last month, the governor said the “crescendo will rise” in the call to legalize marijuana, with regional dynamics and even law enforcement buy-in favoring reform down the line. But for now, he said GOP legislative leadership is “not interested in doing anything soon,” even if “over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally.”
Braun said at the time that he thinks lawmakers should take “an additional look at” medical cannabis and that, while he’s personally “agnostic” on legalization, the reality is that Indiana is “surrounded now by four states” that allow either medical or adult-use cannabis.
“Over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally,” he said, noting that neighboring Kentucky permits patients to access medical cannabis, while Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have recreational marijuana laws on the books.
“I’m going to listen to law enforcement. Even they have changed their opinion in terms of legalizing it and regulating it,” Braun said, adding that he’d compare cannabis to gambling. The state was late in the game to adopt laws allowing adults to gamble, he said, but now it ranks in the top three states nationwide in terms of revenue per capita from the vice.
“Some people aren’t going to want it, just out of principle. A lot of our state police and sheriffs are tolerating people going across the border [to buy cannabis]. It’ll be an increasing issue that, so far, our state legislature has kind of dug in against it,” he said. “I’ve been more agnostic about it. I can see points of view, and I’ve seen law enforcement move on it somewhat.”
“So that would give you the best description of where the dynamic is in our state,” the governor told WOWO. “I think the leader of the Senate especially, and the Speaker of the House, are pretty—and they control the legislative agenda—not interested in doing anything soon. But I think the crescendo will rise, and that describes in a snapshot where we’re at.”
Braun similarly talked about the issue in another recent interview, saying the state is “probably going to have to address” the issue and likening cannabis reform to sports betting.
Lawmakers in the state had already signaled that marijuana legalization isn’t in the cards in the 2026 session, meaning another year where Indiana will be an outlier as one of the few remaining states without effective medical or adult-use cannabis laws.
The governor separately said in January that he’s “amenable” to the idea of legalizing medical cannabis in the state. Instead, Indiana legislators this session have been focused on efforts to ban hemp THC products—though it seems that fight is over for 2026 after a last-minute push failed late last month.
Braun has previously said that federal marijuana rescheduling could add “a little bit of fire” to the local push for cannabis legalization in his state.
Among Indiana residents, a survey released in January found that nearly three in five back legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational use.
Specifically, the annual Hoosier Survey from the Bowen Center at Ball State University (BSU) found that 59 percent of residents are in favor of legalizing cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. An additional 25 percent back only allowing patients to access medical marijuana, raising the total support for that reform to 84 percent.
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Braun, for his part, previously said that “it’s probably time” to allow access to therapeutic cannabis among patients in the state. Those comments came alongside a separate poll indicating that nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults (87 percent) support marijuana legalization.
Top Republicans in the legislature, however, have openly opposed marijuana reform.
“It’s no secret that I am not for this,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said in late 2024. “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 (R) doubted any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance “a deterrent to mental health.” He and others suggested that lawmakers supportive of the reform merely want to boost state revenue.
Tom Angell is the editor of Marijuana Moment. A 25-year veteran in the cannabis and drug law reform movement, he covers the policy, politics, science and culture of marijuana, psychedelics and other substances. He previously reported for Forbes, Marijuana.com and MassRoots, and was given the Hunter S. Thompson Media Award by NORML and has been named Journalist of the Year by Americans for Safe Access. As an activist, Tom founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority and handled media relations, campaigns and lobbying for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
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