INDIANAPOLIS | A Senate committee voted 5-3 Tuesday to authorize a legislative study of marijuana that could lead to eventual legalization of the drug in Indiana.
Senate Bill 192 requires the General Assembly's Sentencing Policy Study Committee to make recommendations regarding marijuana's effects on the criminal justice system, and to determine whether possession and medicinal use should continue to be illegal or if marijuana should be regulated and taxed, similar to alcohol.
State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, the sponsor of the study proposal, said some 15,000 Hoosiers a year are prosecuted for marijuana possession.
Under Indiana law, possession of a single marijuana cigarette can result in one year in prison and a $5,000 fine. A person possessing more than 1 ounce of marijuana, enough for about 30 marijuana cigarettes, can be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
"This state is spending a lot of money on this," Tallian said. "We need to be able to say to the citizens of Indiana: This is how much it's costing us, and is this where you want to spend your money?"
But the importance of studying marijuana goes beyond questions of criminality, said Dr. David Rozenfeld, a Lake County neurologist.
Rozenfeld told the Senate committee Tuesday some patients could benefit from marijuana use, and the dangers of marijuana are no more harmful than most prescription drugs.
"I think if there was some major safety concern related to marijuana, we'd know it by now," Rozenfeld said.
One person interested in trying marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis is state Rep. Tom Knollman, R-Liberty. But Knollman said he is reluctant to try marijuana now because it is illegal.
"Hopefully, I can be a law-abiding citizen and take advantage of what God created," Knollman said.
Tallian's proposal for a summer 2011 marijuana study committee now advances for a vote by the full Senate.