INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio voters recently approved a referendum to legalize recreational marijuana. Voters in Michigan passed a similar referendum in 2018.
That won't happen in the Hoosier state, two political science professors say.
Indiana is among 24 states that don't allow these kinds of citizen-led initiatives on the ballot, said Gregory Shufeldt, associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis.
Shufeldt said lawmakers in the GOP-dominated Indiana Statehouse have no incentive to change.
"When one party controls government like Indiana does, they don't want to necessarily leave opportunities for the voters to kind of add things that they might disagree with," Shufeldt said.
The Indiana Republican party holds a super majority in the state senate and house of representatives. The governor is a Republican and so are the current occupants of all other state-wide elected offices.
Ethan Hollander, an associate political science professor at Wabash College, said the folks in power don't want voters to have this kind of direct democracy.
"In general, legislators (and) governors, they don't want to have direct democracy, because when there's direct democracy, when there are referenda, that takes the power out of their hands," Hollander said.
Three of Indiana's neighbors, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, have legalized recreational marijuana. Kentucky, Indiana's fourth neighbor, allows medical marijuana.
Indiana is one of just 12 states with a total ban on weed.
Indiana lawmakers appear to be far more conservative on the marijuana issue than the people they represent. A 2022 Indiana Public Radio/Ball State University poll found that 85% of Hoosiers support legalizing medical or recreational marijuana.
Hollander said the way the state holds primary elections and has drawn the electoral maps ensures that the many Republican lawmakers represent constituents who tend to be more conservative than the majority of the state.
"With districts as gerrymandered as they are (and) with the legislature as overwhelmingly conservative as it is," Hollander said, "what's the harm of passing a set of policies that are more conservative than the general public when you represent a district that's more conservative than the general public?"
While there's no incentive for lawmakers to change things now, Shufeldt said citizens still have power to change things.
"You absolutely have to vote," Shufeldt said. "If you are a Republican, you need to pick candidates in the Republican primary that support these sorts of things, or you need to start voting for the Democratic Party in a way that gives us more of a two-party system."
"So right now when one party controls state government," Shufeldt said, "they're not inclined to give away that power to voters."
MORE | Neighbor states reap tax money as Indiana resists legalizing marijuana | New survey shows majority of Hoosiers favor Marijuana legalization | Indiana lawmakers hear testimony on marijuana decriminalization bill | Marijuana bills filed for Indiana 2023 legislative session | What happened to Indiana's 13 marijuana bills? They all went up in smoke.
Contact WRTV reporter Vic Ryckaert at victor.ryckaert@wrtv.com or on X/Twitter: @vicryc.
