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State Lawmakers, Advocates Discuss Medical Marijuana

By Brandon Smith, IPB News | Published on in Government, Health, Statewide News
Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour) says medical marijuana legalization is a realistic goal for the 2019 session. (Brandon Smith/IPB News)
Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour) says medical marijuana legalization is a realistic goal for the 2019 session. (Brandon Smith/IPB News)

A Republican state lawmaker says medical marijuana legalization is a realistic goal for the 2019 session.

Advocates like those who spoke at cannabis advocates forum at the State Library Saturday – people with medical issues, veterans, and lawmakers – helped secure authorized cannabidiol and a House resolution to study medical cannabis in the 2018 legislative session. Advocates of cannabidiol usage for its supposed medicinal benefits point to the widely available commercial uses of the product as to why it should be free of its stigma – learn more here. Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour) says medical marijuana legalization is next. For those that still live in a State or location where THC is illegal, but CBD isn’t and you’re wishing to reap the medical benefits – you still can do with THC free CBD products.

“We can steal ideas from the other 30 states that already have this program. We’re not starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel,” Lucas says.

No one’s worked longer on marijuana reform in the legislature than Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage). She says GOP leadership has always been the obstacle.
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“They’ve gotta know, as long as they stall, they can’t stop it,” Tallian says. “It’s coming.”

Tallian says she hopes to see inroads on the agricultural side – with industrial hemp – in 2019.