By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Legalizing marijuana for medical use in Indiana will not happen this year. State lawmakers will study the matter, though, after the Indiana House on Jan. 25 voted 94-0 to assemble a legislative committee for its review during the summer.

The Senate has not acted yet on the issue.

A bill legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes was introduced by state Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour). While on the House floor he held up a bottle of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of aspirin to illustrate how those products, less demonized than marijuana, are also derived from plants and trees.

"One of the biggest challenges we as a legislative body are going to face is coming through all the smoke, all the fearmongering, all the stigma, the ignorance,” Lucas said.

He also said in his call for objectivity that medical marijuana is not a magic bullet. It’s worked for some patients but not others, he noted.

House Bill 1106 presented by Lucas permits the cultivation, dispensing and use of medical marijuana for serious medical conditions. Under the measure, the Indiana Department of Health would oversee the program and issue medical marijuana cards to patients declared eligible to legally use the drug.

Approved users would have the option of having supplies every 30 days provided by a state-licensed dispenser or cultivating the plants themselves under strict regulations.

A day earlier in Kentucky, the state legislature, in a near-unanimous decision, called on the federal government to “expedite research on the safety and effectiveness of the use of marijuana for certain health purposes.” Medical marijuana in Illinois was made legal in 2013 and Ohio followed suit in 2016; it was legalized in Michigan in 2008.

Last year, the state legislature in Michigan opened the door for licensed medical marijuana dispensaries similar to traditional prescription drug pharmacies to go up in communities that choose to have them, to make patient access to the drug more convenient. Until then, suppliers were more limited and many patients had to drive 50 miles or further to get their marijuana prescribed by a doctor.

Michigan also last year allowed licensed growers to increase the number of plants they can raise to meet higher demand from easier access. Opponents, though, alleged that moving medical marijuana into more of a retail arena was done as the next step toward legalizing it for recreational use.

Indiana state Rep. Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City), who leans toward supporting medical marijuana, understands the decision to study the use of the drug but feels legislators during the review process should keep an open mind. “They’ve got to listen and learn and assess the impact in other states, both positive and negative.”

He was also not surprised by the decision to research before deciding the matter because of the legislature’s predominantly conservative makeup. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb is also opposed to legalizing it for medicinal purposes.

“I think Indiana is a long way from making that leap,” Pelath said.

According to figures in H.B. 1106, the licensing portion of a medical marijuana program may cost between $2 million-$3 million and another $1.3 million-$1.7 million in startup costs the first year, depending on the number of user identification cards and growing and dispensing permits issued.