President Donald Trump’s administration just reclassified medical marijuana products as less-dangerous and therefore less strictly regulated drugs, potentially opening the door for more discussion in Indiana, which is landlocked by states where marijuana is legal in some form.
Against the backdrop of a Hoosier Republican party that has been slowly embracing the legalization movement, and a governor who has expressed an open mind toward at least medical marijuana, this move by the Trump administration only reduces conflicts with federal law that have often been a hang-up for Indiana governors past. Marijuana is still illegal in Indiana.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s order to reclassify marijuana products regulated by state-licensed medical marijuana companies from Schedule I to Schedule III reduces barriers to scientific research on the medical uses of cannabis and allows those companies to deduct business expenses on federal tax returns.
Blanche’s order also expedites an administrative hearing, set to begin in June, to consider the broader reclassification of marijuana writ large. In a news release announcing the order, the Department of Justice deemed these moves “common-sense policies.”
“The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” Blanche said in a statement. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information.”
Since running for governor, Gov. Mike Braun has maintained a stance neither for nor against medical marijuana, saying he wants to defer to law enforcement on that discussion. Most recently, at a fireside chat in Indianapolis, Braun said he was “kind of agnostic” on the issue of cannabis legalization and suggested that Indiana may have to confront it soon given that its four surrounding neighbors have legalized medical or recreational marijuana or both.
Braun contrasted with former Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was very clear about his disinterest until things change at the federal level. Braun’s entry into office contributed some momentum to a Republican-backed legalization movement, supported by a lobbying group and a slew of Republican lawmakers’ who’ve introduced decriminalization and legalization bills over the last few years. Leaders in the legislature, however, have remained consistent in their opposition to legalizing marijuana.
The discussion has been made more complicated locally by the proliferation of an off-brand marijuana market in the state ― products derived from hemp, made possible by a loophole in federal law that Congress just moved to close by November. The boom of Delta-8 and other such products in the state has taken up more of state lawmakers’ bandwidth the past two sessions as they’ve tried and failed to either ban or regulate them.
Braun, House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray did not immediately return requests for comment.
Contact IndyStar Statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X @kayla_dwyer17.