MUNCIE – One of the backers of a medical marijuana bill introduced by Sen. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, is the father of a Muncie woman who died in her 30s of a terminal illness.
“Her dad told me her best days were when she could get high-grade marijuana,” Errington says.
The fifth annual “Hoosier Survey,” conducted in 2012 by Ball State University, found that 53 percent of Hoosiers supported decriminalizing marijuana by making it legal to possess small quantities.
The 2013 “Hoosier Survey” found that 52 percent of Hoosiers supported making marijuana a regulated substance much like alcohol and tobacco, and that 78 percent of Hoosiers believed that marijuana should be taxed like cigarettes.
But don’t expect those findings to result in action by the Indiana General Assembly this year.
“Hoosiers see marijuana as a possible source of income for the state, but I don’t think we’ve reached critical mass yet for any immediate action on decriminalization,” says Joe Losco, a BSU political science professor. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere quickly.”
In the seventh annual “Hoosier Survey,” conducted last fall, marijuana was crowded out by other survey questions like Sunday alcohol sales and racial disparity in the treatment of individuals by police.
Errington says the speaker of the House assigned her marijuana bill to the Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee, also known as “the graveyard.”
“Bills that go there usually don’t come back out,” Errington said. “I would like it to at least get a hearing, so people could come and tell their stories — patients and physicians and others. I keep hearing that there are physicians in Muncie and elsewhere who would write prescriptions if it were legal.”