The Indiana Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, will host a public forum Saturday at the St. Joe County Library in South Bend.
The pro-marijuana group wants to garner political will ahead of the legislative session by presenting academic data about the benefits of medicinal marijuana at their forums. Advocates say that legalizing the drug could help fight the opioid crisis.
Stephen Dillon started the Indiana NORML chapter to promote legalization of marijuana over 40 years ago. He said the arguments around the drug have changed.
“I believe it’s the opioid crisis. This is different, we didn’t talk about that in 78,” Dillon said, “What we’re talking about now is all the new research that shows cannabis is an exit drug for the serious opiate problem we have in Indiana.”
The event will feature the work of Thomas Clark, a biologist and researcher at Indiana University South Bend. He said marijuana is a less dangerous alternative to conventional pain medication, but research doesn’t tend to focus on the benefits of the drug.
“With Marijuana, there are harmful effects, though these tend to be nonfatal, very rarely fatal, but what previous people have ignored are all these beneficial effects that are emerging in recent studies,” said Clark.
Republican Representative Jim Lucas from southern Indiana has become an advocate for legalizing medical cannabis. Lucas will not be present at Saturday’s event, but spoke at an event the group held in late August. Lucas said he is as serious about decriminalizing medical cannabis in Indiana as he is about gun rights.
“Look at the facts, look at the science. Listen to the people that have been helped by this,” Lucas said, “It is a moral obligation. As elected officials, we have to put our biases aside.”
The South Bend forum will be the group’s last for the year.
Facebook event: