INDIANAPOLIS —
An influential Republican lawmaker believes it’s time for Indiana to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and plans to include language to do so in legislation to overhaul the state’s criminal code.
State Sen. Brent Steele, who’s played a critical role in criminal justice issues as chair of the Senate corrections committee, said the state’s marijuana possession laws are too harsh. Indiana law dictates that marijuana possession is a felony unless it’s a first-time offense and the amount is less than 1 ounce.
“We have to ask ourselves as a society, do we really want to be locking people up for having a couple of joints in their pocket,” Steele said. “Is that how we want to be spending our criminal justice resources?”
At least 14 states have rolled back criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and 17 states and the District of Columbia allow the use of “medical marijuana” as pain treatment.
Steele, a conservative legislator from Bedford who is running opposed in the November election, likened Indiana’s marijuana possession laws to “smashing an ant with a sledgehammer.”
His proposal: To make possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana a civil infraction that carries the penalty of a fine. Ten grams is equal to about 10 single-serving sugar packets or two joints.
Steele doesn’t support legalizing marijuana. He doesn’t want to do away with laws, for example, that carry tough penalties for people who drive under the influence of marijuana. And he’s convinced there are other laws that will catch people who are drug abusers.
“We’re talking about simple possession. Some kid caught with a couple of joints in his pocket,” Steele said. “Mere possession has nothing to do with use or abuse.”
Steele’s support for such a change is critical, as is the timing. A legislative study committee scheduled to meet Thursday is working on a massive plan to overhaul Indiana’s criminal code.
Those committee members are reviewing a 375-page report — crafted at the direction of the Legislature by a group of prosecutors, public defenders and other attorneys — that calls for revamping the state’s criminal laws to make punishment more proportionate to the crime. It calls for tougher penalties for the worst sex and violent crimes, and less prison time for low-level drug crimes.
Steele is using the report as a framework for legislation he plans to introduce in the next session. He said lawyers at the Legislative Services Agency, the nonpartisan, research arm of the Legislature, have already started crafting the bill.
Andrew Cullen, legislative liaison for the Indiana Public Defender Council and member of the committee that issued the report, thinks Steele will find bipartisan support in the Statehouse. “No one wants to encourage the use of drugs. But to make a low-level, recreational drug user into a felon is ridiculous,” Cullen said. The House is expected to introduce its own version of legislation that would overhaul the state’s criminal code. State Rep. Jud McMillin, a former prosecutor from Brookville, is expected to carry the House version. McMillin said he hasn’t seen Steele’s proposal but said the penalties for some drug crimes need to be revisited.
“We need to be spending our resources on people who need to be put away,” McMillin said.
Steele’s role is seen as critical: He has been ally of Indiana prosecutors, who aren’t expected to support his push to reduce penalties for some drug possession crimes. He’s also been seen as a “rock-ribbed, law-and-order guy,” said Ed Feigenbaum, longtime publisher of the Indiana Legislative Insight newsletter. “For him to make this kind of concession is significant,” Feigenbaum said.
Steele hinted at his position last year when, as chairman of the Senate corrections committee, he cleared the way for a hearing on a bill that created a study on whether Indiana should legalize marijuana. That bill was authored by state Sen. Karen Tallian, a liberal Democrat from Portage.
Tallian, 61, and Steele, 65, don’t agree on much politically. But both are lawyers who’ve seen people sent to jail or prison for possessing small amounts of marijuana and both question whether that’s the right result.
Tallian has done polling on the issue and said there’s a growing public sentiment that Indiana’s marijuana possession laws may be too tough. “We don’t need to be putting kids in jail (for possessing marijuana) and making them into felons,” Tallian said. “I think most people will agree with that.”
Maureen Hayden covers the Statehouse for the CNHI newspapers in Indiana. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.
State News
Steele pushes to decriminalize pot possession
- State News
-
-
Court lets walk-out fines against House Democrats stand
INDIANAPOLIS — House Democrats who had to pay more than $100,000 in fines after they walked out of the Indiana Statehouse won’t get the help they sought from the Indiana Supreme Court.
-
Prison sentence of 12-year-old prompts new juvenile sentencing law
Three years ago, when 12-year-old Paul Henry Gingerich became the youngest person in Indiana ever sent to prison as an adult, his story gained international attention and sparked questions about whether children belong behind bars with grown-up offenders.
-
Ritz orders independent analysis of ISTEP results
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has hired an outside expert to determine the validity of ISTEP+ test scores of nearly 80,000 students who were kicked offline while taking the high-stakes standardized test.
-
State Education Department hires third party to validate ISTEP+ data
Indiana schools’ chief Glenda Ritz announced today that she’s hiring an outsider reviewer to determine whether the computer problems experienced by students during ISTEP+ test-taking should invalidate the test results.
-
State to lift decades-old ban on switchblades
For more than a half-century, the only legal access that most Hoosiers had to switchblades was viewing them in the hands of youthful hoodlums in movies such as “West Side Story” and “Rebel Without a Cause.” That's soon to end.
-
New law legalizes midwifery in Indiana
A new law that legalizes midwifery in Indiana has been a long time coming for women like Mary Ann Griffin, a certified professional midwife and advocate of home births.
-
High Court stays out of Indiana Planned Parenthood funding case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will not disturb a lower court ruling that blocks Indiana’s effort to strip Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood because the organization performs abortions among its medical services.
-
State won’t use free lunch program as poverty indicator
Indiana is changing the way it counts low-income students in public schools because Republican legislators suspect fraud in the federal school-lunch program used to measure poverty.
-
Report: State is both ‘leader and laggard’
A newly released report card on where Indiana ranks nationally in key economic measures shows the state is both “a leader and a laggard” in areas that signal potential for more prosperity.
-
Indiana’s high school grad rate continues upward
Indiana’s reported high school graduation rate continues to improve, moving from 77 percent to more than 88 percent in less than a decade, but there are still significant achievement gaps marked by race and income.
-
Schools chief Ritz on fast learning curve
For many occupants of the Indiana Statehouse, the week after the General Assembly wraps up its final frenzy of work is a quiet one. But not for Glenda Ritz.
-
SLIDESHOW: Governor Otis R. Bowen
Photos from the Indiana State Archives of the late Otis R. Bowen, who served as governor of the state as well as in the Ronald Reagan White House. The Bremen native died Saturday
-
Out of office, Lugar shuns retirement
One year ago, Indiana’s longest serving U.S. senator was rejected by Republican primary voters and forced into an unwelcome retirement from a distinguished political career that spanned 46 years. But at 81, former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar is hardly in a resting mode.
-
Lugar wary of Syria involvement
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar has been out of office since early January, but he’s still being sought after for his opinion about foreign policy matters he once helped shape.
-
Judge grants class status to lawsuit again BMV
INDIANAPOLIS — As many as 4 million Indiana drivers could become plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has overcharged for driver’s licenses since 2007.
-
Budget deal includes little funding for criminal code reform
Facing the end-of-session deadline, Indiana legislators moved forward on a bill to overhaul the state’s criminal sentencing laws but left undone the issue of where local communities will get the money to implement it.
-
Legislators closing in on final budget
In his first four months as the chief budget maker in the Indiana House, Republican Rep. Tim Brown hasn’t been surprised by the long hours, multiple demands and intense debate that goes with crafting a $30 billion spending plan.
-
New poll shows voters tepid on Pence tax plan
With just days to go before the deadline for a final budget bill, a new independent poll shows Republican Gov. Mike Pence may not have gotten much mileage for his travels around the state pitching his 10 percent tax cut plan.
-
DOC hopes ‘cold case’ cards lead to solved cases
Indiana state prison officials are using customized playing cards for a deadly serious purpose: To help unlock the mysteries of unsolved murders and persons gone missing.
-
Indiana attorney general says Congress must act on immigration reform
Amidst concerns that the Boston Marathon bombing may derail federal action on comprehensive immigration reform, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is turning up some collective heat on Congress to move ahead.
-
Disagreements stall criminal code reform bill
Negotiations over the final language in a bill that rewrites Indiana’s criminal code may come down to the last week of the legislative session.
-
Budget forecasters predict bigger drop in gaming revenues
While a gaming bill is still in play in the General Assembly, state budget forecasters are predicting the payoff to the state from legalized gambling will be even lower than they thought.
-
Legislature heads into final stretch
The Indiana General Assembly has slogged its way through hundreds of bills since convening in January but in some critical ways, the real work has just begun.
-
Criminal records bill passes Indiana Senate
Legislation that would allow some people with long-ago arrests and convictions in Indiana to wipe clean their criminal record has moved one step closer to the governor’s desk.
-
Court challenge likely for welfare drug-testing bill
Both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly have passed a bill that ties drug testing to welfare benefits, but if signed into law, the next debate may be on the question: Is it constitutional?
-
Push to roll back ban on in-state tuition for immigrants stops short
House Republicans who wanted to roll back a two-year-old ban on in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants have abandoned their plan to expand a Senate bill covering a much smaller group of students.
-
House committee OKs in-state tuition for some undocumented students
The debate over in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants is headed for the Indiana House.
-
Legislators working on funding plan for criminal code rewrite
As legislation that overhauls Indiana’s criminal code moves forward, supporters of the bill are working on finding funding for local communities to implement it.
-
Republican super PAC leader backs immigration reform
As the politics of immigration reform heats up in the Statehouse and Congress, a prominent Republican is ramping up his efforts to rid the influence of what he calls anti-immigrant “extremists” in his party.
-
House considers bill to shorten school day
Legislation that would have freed the state’s high-performing schools from the mandatory 180-day school year has been amended in the House with a provision to shorten the school day instead.
- More State News Headlines
-
Unusual Heat Wave Bakes Alaska
Fans Cheer Dramatic Heat Comeback
Raw: Massive Protests Fill Brazilian Streets
Raw: Car Jumps Curb in NYC, Injures 8
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
Hunt for Ex-Teamster Boss Hoffa's Remains Ends
Raw: Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City
Raw: NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Dies in Wreck
Car Crash in NYC's East Village Injures 8
Raw: Arizona Wildfire Scorches 8 Square Miles
Hoffa Mystery Still Fascinates After 4 Decades
Ohio Woman Accuses 3 of Holding Her Captive
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Raw: German President Welcomes President Obama
Raw: 1 Dead in Shooting at Mo. Apartment Complex
Aug. Trial Set for Ohio Man in Triple Kidnapping
Failed Cuba-to-Florida Swimmer Won't Try Again
Obama: 'Lives Have Been Saved' by NSA Programs
James Gandolfini Dies at Age 51
Paula Deen Admits to Using N Word
Rihanna Hits Fan With Microphone
Men's Wearhouse Founder Fired
Miss Utah Explains Rambling Response
Exclusive: Locklear & Seymour Lock Lips
Miami Heat Wins in Overtime
Fists, chairs fly in restaurant brawl
Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Fiery Hollywood Crash
Hairy Leg Stockings Aim to Deflect Male Attention
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
