Marijuana Moment: GOP Senator Urges Indiana Governor Not To Legalize Marijuana Despite Federal Rescheduling

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Indiana’s Republican governor recently said that his state is “more likely” to legalize marijuana now that the Trump administration is moving to federally reschedule cannabis—but a GOP senator is pressing Gov. Mike Braun (R) to maintain criminalization.

“Recently, you suggested that Indiana will have to address marijuana legalization. I urge you to prioritize public safety and the well-being of Hoosiers—especially those under the age of 18—and maintain the state’s prohibitions on marijuana use,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) wrote in a letter to the governor last week. “Marijuana is not a harmless drug.”

Banks listed a number of concerns, including about cannabis use disorder, impaired driving and criminal activity.

“Even a single use affects a person’s brain and ability to make decisions. The risks are elevated in children, whose brains are not fully developed,” he wrote. “Making marijuana legal does not make it safe, and it does not reduce usage.”

“Even in states that limit recreational use, addicts are accessing medical marijuana cards—and medical use itself can lead to use disorders. Experiments in legalization have consequences for communities as well as individuals,” the senator said. “This is to say nothing of the fact that legalization empowers foreign drug cartels, a concern I have previously raised with my colleagues at the national level.”

“Indiana needs to enforce its laws protecting Hoosiers from the dangers of drug use. I hear regularly from constituents about this issue, and they want more regulation, not less,” Banks wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Daily Wire. “They tell me about how their children’s lives were ruined by addiction; how they treat the consequences of cannabis disorder in hospitals every day; and how schools are struggling to stop students from smuggling marijuana onto campus using vape pens. We owe it to them, and to all the residents of our great state, to keep Indiana safe, beautiful, and drug-free.”

Under an order signed last month by U.S. Acting Attorney General Blanche, marijuana products regulated by a state medical cannabis license immediately moved to Schedule III, as did any marijuana products that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“I think the fact that the feds made that move, that makes it more likely” the state will act to reform its cannabis laws, Braun said last week.

“You’re going to need to ask the legislators and the leaders in those two chambers to see what they’re thinking, because I’m clear in terms of where I’m at,” he continued. “You’ve got to take what’s evolved over time. [If you] stick your head in the sand, you’re generally going to make the wrong decision.”

Meanwhile, at Braun’s direction, state officials have been holding a series of meetings with medical marijuana advocates.

Last month, the governor said the “crescendo will rise” in the call to legalize marijuana, with regional dynamics and even law enforcement buy-in favoring reform down the line. But for now, he said GOP legislative leadership in the state is “not interested in doing anything soon,” even if “over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally.”

Braun said at the time that he thinks lawmakers should take “an additional look at” medical cannabis and that, while he’s personally “agnostic” on legalization, the reality is that Indiana is “surrounded now by four states” that allow either medical or adult-use cannabis.

“Over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally,” he said, noting that neighboring Kentucky permits patients to access medical cannabis, while Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have recreational marijuana laws on the books.

“I’m going to listen to law enforcement. Even they have changed their opinion in terms of legalizing it and regulating it,” Braun said, adding that he’d compare cannabis to gambling. The state was late in the game to adopt laws allowing adults to gamble, he said, but now it ranks in the top three states nationwide in terms of revenue per capita from the vice.

“Some people aren’t going to want it, just out of principle. A lot of our state police and sheriffs are tolerating people going across the border [to buy cannabis]. It’ll be an increasing issue that, so far, our state legislature has kind of dug in against it,” he said. “I’ve been more agnostic about it. I can see points of view, and I’ve seen law enforcement move on it somewhat.”

“So that would give you the best description of where the dynamic is in our state,” the governor told WOWO. “I think the leader of the Senate especially, and the Speaker of the House, are pretty—and they control the legislative agenda—not interested in doing anything soon. But I think the crescendo will rise, and that describes in a snapshot where we’re at.”

Braun similarly talked about the issue in another recent interview, saying the state is “probably going to have to address” the issue and likening cannabis reform to sports betting.

Lawmakers in the state had already signaled that marijuana legalization isn’t in the cards in the 2026 session, meaning another year where Indiana will be an outlier as one of the few remaining states without effective medical or adult-use cannabis laws.

The governor separately said in January that he’s “amenable” to the idea of legalizing medical cannabis in the state. Instead, Indiana legislators this session have been focused on efforts to ban hemp THC products—though it seems that fight is over for 2026 after a last-minute push failed late last month.

Braun has previously said that federal marijuana rescheduling could add “a little bit of fire” to the local push for cannabis legalization in his state.

Among Indiana residents, a survey released in January found that nearly three in five back legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational use.

Specifically, the annual Hoosier Survey from the Bowen Center at Ball State University (BSU) found that 59 percent of residents are in favor of legalizing cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. An additional 25 percent back only allowing patients to access medical marijuana, raising the total support for that reform to 84 percent.

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Braun, for his part, previously said that “it’s probably time” to allow access to therapeutic cannabis among patients in the state. Those comments came alongside a separate poll indicating that nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults (87 percent) support marijuana legalization.

Top Republicans in the legislature, however, have openly opposed marijuana reform.

“It’s no secret that I am not for this,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said in late 2024. “I don’t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases as to why it’s so beneficial. And any state that I’ve seen pass medical marijuana is essentially passing recreational marijuana.”

House Speaker Todd Huston (R) doubted any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance “a deterrent to mental health.” He and others suggested that lawmakers supportive of the reform merely want to boost state revenue.

Read the senator’s full marijuana letter below:

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