Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Indianapolis – Each year, Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage) submits a marijuana bill. Each year, it is shot down. Still, she perseveres.
The work of a legislator is often grueling, frustrating and time-consuming. Passions and principles catalyze pen to paper and are authored into bills that often take a very circuitous route through the legislature, taking months and often even years before a bill is deemed to even merit a hearing.
Tallian's latest work – Senate Bill 255 – would establish a medical marijuana program and permit caregivers and patients who have received a physician recommendation to possess a certain quantity of marijuana for treatment of certain medical conditions.
It would also establish the Department of Marijuana Enforcements (DOME) as a state agency to oversee the program and create the DOME advisory committee to review the effectiveness of the program. DOME would be authorized to grant research licenses to research facilities with a physical presence in Indiana.
The bill would also repeal the controlled substance excise tax and the marijuana eradication program.
"The very first of these bills I submitted was to ask for a study commission to look at marijuana policy in the state of Indiana," Tallian said. "I originally got that. I was quite surprised, but I convinced them to give me a study. After that, I did a couple versions of the bill that were decriminalization bills so that people would not go to jail. I couldn't get a hearing on those. Eventually, I changed it to a medical program, and that's what it is today."
This marks Tallian's seventh incarnation of her bill to legislate medical marijuana.
"During a meeting that we had during Pence's first year, we all talked about the kinds of thing that we had been working on," Tallian said. "I mentioned a number of things as well as this medical marijuana legislation. He looked at me and said 'that's never going to happen.'"
Tallian continues to file her bills anyway.
"I was pretty confident that I was not going to get a hearing because the governor told me that," she said. "Now we have a new governor and we have a built-up, pent-up interest on this issue as well."
Tallian said there are 11 different bills from various senators that deal with some version of marijuana reform that have been filed this year.
"I do know that Mike Young, who runs the Corrections and Criminal Code Committee, has scheduled a bill. He has set another bill for hearing on Tuesday," she said. "That's way farther than we've ever gotten before. The bill that's being heard on Tuesday is not my bill and it's a very limited bill in terms of what it allows. It's a bill for CBD oil for people with epilepsy. The bill, as far as I'm concerned, has some issues. It doesn't define things very well and it's limited in who it's going to take care of. But I consider it a huge victory that we're this far."
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, CBD has shown positive effects on physiological systems that may affect seizures. Evidence from laboratory studies, anecdotal reports, and small clinical studies from a number of years ago suggest that cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound of cannabis, could potentially be helpful in controlling seizures.
So how long before the senator believes any real headway might be made in getting some kind of legislation passed?
"I think that we're getting there," Tallian said. "But I think that people have been afraid of it. They have been afraid that any little thing we might do would turn us into Colorado or send us into 'reefer madness.' There are a couple of groups who are significantly opposed to this — the Prosecutor's Association being one."
Tallian also said that of all the states in the union, Indiana is just one of seven who have as yet refused to move forward with some kind of marijuana legislation.
"We've got eight states that have basically legalized it," she said. "We've got another 10 states that have decriminalized it and have implemented a medical program. We have another handful that have decriminalized without installing a medical program, although some of those states have a CBD oil program. Another 10 states have medical laws and another 10 or 11 have allowed just a CBD oil program thus far."
Tallian said she's not surprised that Indiana has finally "broken the floodgates."
"It's sort of amusing that we now have 11 bills offering something," she said.
Tallian said she initially became interested in authoring such legislation when, as an attorney, she'd sit in court and watch one teenager after another plead guilty to possession of some small amount of pot.
"I realized what a waste of time and money this was," she said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Senator Battles For Reform Of Marijuana Laws
Author: Stephanie Dolan
Contact: 317-272-5800
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: The Flyer Group
The work of a legislator is often grueling, frustrating and time-consuming. Passions and principles catalyze pen to paper and are authored into bills that often take a very circuitous route through the legislature, taking months and often even years before a bill is deemed to even merit a hearing.
Tallian's latest work – Senate Bill 255 – would establish a medical marijuana program and permit caregivers and patients who have received a physician recommendation to possess a certain quantity of marijuana for treatment of certain medical conditions.
It would also establish the Department of Marijuana Enforcements (DOME) as a state agency to oversee the program and create the DOME advisory committee to review the effectiveness of the program. DOME would be authorized to grant research licenses to research facilities with a physical presence in Indiana.
The bill would also repeal the controlled substance excise tax and the marijuana eradication program.
"The very first of these bills I submitted was to ask for a study commission to look at marijuana policy in the state of Indiana," Tallian said. "I originally got that. I was quite surprised, but I convinced them to give me a study. After that, I did a couple versions of the bill that were decriminalization bills so that people would not go to jail. I couldn't get a hearing on those. Eventually, I changed it to a medical program, and that's what it is today."
This marks Tallian's seventh incarnation of her bill to legislate medical marijuana.
"During a meeting that we had during Pence's first year, we all talked about the kinds of thing that we had been working on," Tallian said. "I mentioned a number of things as well as this medical marijuana legislation. He looked at me and said 'that's never going to happen.'"
Tallian continues to file her bills anyway.
"I was pretty confident that I was not going to get a hearing because the governor told me that," she said. "Now we have a new governor and we have a built-up, pent-up interest on this issue as well."
Tallian said there are 11 different bills from various senators that deal with some version of marijuana reform that have been filed this year.
"I do know that Mike Young, who runs the Corrections and Criminal Code Committee, has scheduled a bill. He has set another bill for hearing on Tuesday," she said. "That's way farther than we've ever gotten before. The bill that's being heard on Tuesday is not my bill and it's a very limited bill in terms of what it allows. It's a bill for CBD oil for people with epilepsy. The bill, as far as I'm concerned, has some issues. It doesn't define things very well and it's limited in who it's going to take care of. But I consider it a huge victory that we're this far."
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, CBD has shown positive effects on physiological systems that may affect seizures. Evidence from laboratory studies, anecdotal reports, and small clinical studies from a number of years ago suggest that cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound of cannabis, could potentially be helpful in controlling seizures.
So how long before the senator believes any real headway might be made in getting some kind of legislation passed?
"I think that we're getting there," Tallian said. "But I think that people have been afraid of it. They have been afraid that any little thing we might do would turn us into Colorado or send us into 'reefer madness.' There are a couple of groups who are significantly opposed to this — the Prosecutor's Association being one."
Tallian also said that of all the states in the union, Indiana is just one of seven who have as yet refused to move forward with some kind of marijuana legislation.
"We've got eight states that have basically legalized it," she said. "We've got another 10 states that have decriminalized it and have implemented a medical program. We have another handful that have decriminalized without installing a medical program, although some of those states have a CBD oil program. Another 10 states have medical laws and another 10 or 11 have allowed just a CBD oil program thus far."
Tallian said she's not surprised that Indiana has finally "broken the floodgates."
"It's sort of amusing that we now have 11 bills offering something," she said.
Tallian said she initially became interested in authoring such legislation when, as an attorney, she'd sit in court and watch one teenager after another plead guilty to possession of some small amount of pot.
"I realized what a waste of time and money this was," she said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Senator Battles For Reform Of Marijuana Laws
Author: Stephanie Dolan
Contact: 317-272-5800
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: The Flyer Group
