Advocates for marijuana legalization in Indiana already know 2026 won’t be the year they see it happen.
Despite President Donald Trump signing an executive order in December for reclassifying marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, the Republican-dominated state Legislature isn’t acting on any bills that would allow medical or recreational use.
Instead, legislators are advancing proposals that would tighten state laws on delta-8 products with THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — and crack down on advertisements for marijuana dispensaries in neighboring states.
The stance has one marijuana legalization advocate arguing that Indiana officials are “sticking their head in the sand.”
Trump stance hasn’t shifted Indiana status
Indiana is among only 10 states that don’t allow either medicinal and recreational marijuana sales.
Legalization supporters made a prominent push going into the 2025 legislative session but were unable to persuade lawmakers to take any action on the issue.
Trump’s executive order in December to shift cannabis from its current Schedule I status, alongside drugs such as heroin and LSD, to the less-regulated Schedule III level would seem to weaken a long-standing argument from top state Republicans against legalization.
But that did not result in removing any Statehouse hurdles to marijuana bills or a renewed visible campaign from advocates.
Joe Elsener, a former Marion County Republican chair and an organizer of the lobbying group Safe and Regulated Indiana, said part of that was strategic rather than trying to push major changes during the Legislature’s two-month short session this year.
“I think President Trump’s announcement before the holidays is just another big sign that the way people are thinking about this,” Elsener said. “Just in general, the country is moving in a different direction.”
The expected federal change hasn’t altered the anti-legalization stance of top Republican legislative leaders, who’ve long cited the Schedule I classification and concerns about societal impacts in states that allow marijuana sales.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray told reporters this past week that Trump’s reclassification order was “to try to move that along.”
“It didn’t actually affect the change or make the change. We’re continuing those conversations,” Bray said of possible legalization. “I don’t have much new.”
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