Issue Position: Marijuana

Issue Position

Hoosiers suffering from pain and a variety of chronic illnesses should not be subject to arrest and incarceration for possessing cannabis, which is legally available in 33 other states and the District of Columbia. Nor should we continue to fill our prisons with people convicted of minor marijuana possession. The enforcement of marijuana laws falls heaviest on the young and minorities and has created egregious racial disparities in the prison population. There were 23,000 marijuana arrests in Indiana last year at a huge financial cost to individuals and the state for a substance widely considered less harmful than alcohol.

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