Failed Indiana bill to decriminalize marijuana re-crafted to stop some prosecutions

(The Center Square) – Indiana won’t be decriminalizing the possession of even small amounts of marijuana this year, but on Thursday, it took what some people see as a small step in that direction.

House Bill 1028, which was before the House of Representatives this week, would make it harder to prosecute someone driving a vehicle for DUI if they have a small amount of marijuana in their blood but are not impaired.

“The key is to get the discussion going,” Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, told radio talk show host Abdul Hakim-Shabazz on Wednesday.

His bill as originally written would have made it no longer a crime to possess a very small amount of marijuana.

“The original intent was to take one ounce or less and make it a D infraction – which is basically a $25 fine,” Lucas said. “But things move slowly in Indiana, and we encountered some obstacles on that, so we pivoted and we’re doing what we can to move the ball forward.”

He amended his bill to only deal with THC levels in the bloodstream, THC being the substance in marijuana that gives people a “high.” The bill would have made it no longer a crime to drive with less than five nanograms of THC in the bloodstream.

But the Indiana State Police and the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council still opposed the bill.

So Lucas pivoted again, amending the bill to say a person cannot be convicted of a DUI for having marijuana in their system if “the person was not intoxicated” and “did not cause a traffic accident.”

“It does not set any impairment levels. It does not change any laws. It does nothing for possession or anything of that nature. It just gets us off of that zero-tolerance level which has entrapped many innocent Hoosiers,” Lucas told his fellow legislators Thursday.

Under Indiana law, a person is committing the crime of Driving Under the Influence if any amount of a controlled substance is present in the body, and blood tests are done on the drivers of both vehicles in any crash involving serious injury or death.

THC, unlike most other drugs, can remain in the bloodstream for several days or even longer after a person has smoked marijuana.

HB 1028 is to be voted on by the full House next week, and a similar bill in the Senate, authored by Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, is also expected to get a vote in the Senate.

Chris Daniels with the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council worked with Young on his bill. He says both the House and Senate bills provide the same defense for people who may have THC in their blood, but are not really high.

“If the substance in your blood is THC and we didn’t have any reason to think you were impaired, then you can’t be charged with a crime,” he said, in summarizing them.

A similar bill in the Senate last year made it out of committee, but failed to find enough support on the Senate floor.

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