Make wishtv.com your home page

State Senator seeks to legalize medical marijuana

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – There could be a debate in the Indiana General Assembly this year over a plan to legalize medical marijuana.

State Senator Karen Tallian (D-Portage) filed a bill that would create a new Department of Marijuana Enforcement and launch a medical marijuana program.

She calls it “a small, very careful first step.”

House Minority Leader Scott Pelath will support it.

“People are ready to embrace some changes,” said Pelath. “They’re tired of filling up our jails and they want people who are very sick to get the pain relief that they need.”

Tallian is a Democrat from Portage who filed a bill to decriminalize marijuana last year.

It didn’t receive a committee hearing.