By (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel

There are advantages to being a conservative state with a supermajority of Republicans controlling the Legislature. One we can think of is that Indiana may avoid the trend toward legalizing marijuana — at least for now.

The Associated Press reported recently Republican leaders are firmly against taking any steps during the upcoming session toward legalizing marijuana use. News-Sentinel.com supports their position.

While nearly two-thirds of states have legalized marijuana, mainly for medical uses, federal health officials issued a warning in August that smoking marijuana is dangerous for adolescents, pregnant women and their developing babies.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has said he is opposed to legalizing marijuana as long as the federal government classifies it as a dangerous drug and leaders of the Legislature back him.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a former Indiana state health commissioner, has said marijuana may affect brain development in teens and their frequent marijuana use is associated with changes in parts of the brain involved with attention, memory, decision-making and motivation.

And the use of products containing THC, the ingredient that provides a high in marijuana, has been linked to a vaping illness that has killed at least 52 people nationwide. About 2,400 hospitalizations have been reported in the U.S. this year, with some of the highest rates in Indiana.

The AP quoted Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray of Martinsville saying he doesn’t see any value in allowing marijuana use when lawmakers are considering raising the legal age for smoking cigarettes from 18 to 21.

“The idea of then legalizing a different kind of cigarette doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Bray said.

A 2018 poll by Ball State University’s Bowen Center for Public Affairs found about 80 percent of Indiana adults favor use of medical marijuana, while 40 percent support legal recreational use. Only 16 percent back a total ban. The poll showed more support among Democrats than Republicans for allowing recreational use, and about one-fifth of Republicans said no marijuana use should be legal.

It was reported last month from new data from the Pew Research Center that two-thirds of Americans say marijuana use should be legal. Only 32 percent oppose legalization, a plunge of 20 percent over the past decade. The breakdown in support of legalization is 78 percent among Democrats and 55 percent among Republicans.

A separate question by Pew researchers was used to help determine whether Americans support or oppose recreational marijuana and/or medical marijuana. They found 59% wanting it legal for both purposes, up 10 percent since 2016; 32 percent favored medical use only; 8 percent said it should not be legal at all, down from 15 percent in 2016.

The Pew survey showed the public’s preferences on marijuana are well to the left of current policy. Federal law makes marijuana illegal for all purposes, but 11 states and D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana and most others have some form of medical marijuana law.

The pressure has increased on Indiana to follow suit since recreational marijuana sales won approval in Michigan and Illinois and with medical use being allowed in Ohio.

AP reports the county prosecutor for Indianapolis has stopped pressing criminal charges against adults for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana.

While we oppose legalization of marijuana, we think that step may at least have the right idea in tempering enforcement of the law.

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