Indiana Cannabis Legislators — Who Blocks, Who Pushes

Last verified: April 2026

The Governors

Gov. Mike Braun (R)

Braun took office on January 13, 2025. As a U.S. Senator he co-sponsored the federalist STATES Act, which would have allowed states to set their own cannabis policy. As governor he has been markedly ambivalent rather than oppositional on cannabis — an inflection from the Holcomb posture, even as he has signed restrictive measures into law.

At a March 2026 Indianapolis fireside chat: “I’m kind of agnostic on that issue, but when you’ve got four states surrounding you, you’re probably going to have to address it.” On WOWO Fort Wayne, Braun said: “Over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally.” He has explicitly placed responsibility for legislative inaction on chamber leaders: “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.”

To date, Braun has issued no executive orders on cannabis. He signed the May 2025 cannabis-advertising ban and has explicitly compared cannabis to sports betting — an opening reformers point to, since Indiana legalized sports betting in 2019 only after revenue began flowing past state borders.

I'm kind of agnostic on that issue, but when you've got four states surrounding you, you're probably going to have to address it.

Gov. Mike Braun, Indianapolis fireside chat, March 2026

Former Gov. Eric Holcomb (R, 2017–2025)

Holcomb was the principal architect of Indiana’s “wait for the feds” doctrine. In a 2021 WTHR-13 interview he said: “I took an oath. So let’s just say I agreed with it, I (also) agreed to uphold the law — state and federal.” He held that line through the DEA’s May 2024 Schedule III rescheduling proposal. His one cannabis-adjacent law was Senate Enrolled Act 52 (2018), legalizing low-THC hemp extract under 0.3% delta-9 THC.

The Chamber Leaders Who Block

Senate Pres. Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville)

Bray is the single most important figure blocking reform. His control over Senate Rules Committee referrals and committee chair appointments gives him decisive power over which bills move and which die. In late 2024 he told reporters: “It’s no secret that I am not for this. 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.”

After President Trump’s December 2025 federal Schedule III rescheduling executive order, reformers expected Bray’s “wait for the feds” framing to soften. It did not. Bray told reporters in January 2026: “It didn’t actually affect the change or make the change. We’re continuing those conversations. I don’t have much new.”

House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers)

Huston frames cannabis as a public-policy question rather than a fiscal one, deliberately blunting the cross-border revenue argument that drove Indiana’s 2019 sports-betting legalization: “I don’t believe in doing … policy based upon revenue. I think you do good public policy, and you deal with the revenue.” Huston has called marijuana “a deterrent to mental health.”

Senate Majority Floor Leader Chris Garten (R-Charlestown)

Garten has aligned publicly with Bray’s posture and has not advanced any cannabis bill from leadership. As Floor Leader, he controls calendar movement on the Senate floor — a second layer of friction even if a bill clears committee.

The Committee Chairs Who Decide

Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis)

Freeman has chaired the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law since October 2022 — the committee where Senate cannabis bills are almost always referred. He is a former Marion County deputy prosecutor and a 2018 IPAC Legislative Excellence Award honoree. Bray reappointed him for the 124th General Assembly in December 2024, and he also chairs the Interim Study Committee on Corrections and Criminal Code, the body that has hosted multiple multi-hour cannabis hearings without recommending action. Defending his SB 250 hemp-restriction bill in January 2026, he said he’d rather “eliminate all these things from the planet, period.”

Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville)

McNamara chairs the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee. She has refused to call any cannabis bill for committee hearing since the historic February 2023 hearing on Rep. Heath VanNatter’s HB 1297 — including bills filed by fellow Republicans. In January 2026 she told reporters: “As long as it’s illegal on the federal level, there’s really no reason for us to act on the state level.”

The Republican Advocate Vanguard

Sen. Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg)

Leising is the Republican Senate’s most persistent medical-cannabis voice. Born January 1949, a retired registered nurse and farm owner, she has chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee and represented District 42 since 2008 (and previously 1989–1996). Her interest dates to her chairmanship of an interim study committee on CBD oil for pediatric seizures; in 2016 she sponsored a bill immunizing Indiana physicians who participated in CBD trials. She advocates annually for medical cannabis inside the Senate Republican caucus.

Rep. Heath VanNatter (R-Kokomo)

VanNatter authored the historic 2023 HB 1297 hearing — the most recent committee vote on any cannabis bill. In January 2026 he publicly chose not to file marijuana legislation: “It’s not going to happen this year.”

Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour)

Lucas frames legalization as a question of personal liberty and regulatory failure rather than fiscal benefit: “We can regulate it. It’s not being regulated right now.” He is the most vocal Republican backbencher on reform.

Rep. Jake Teshka (R-North Liberty)

Teshka co-authored 2023’s HB 1039 and 2024’s decriminalization bills, anchoring the small Republican House contingent willing to put names on filed legislation.

Rep. Zach Payne (R-Charlestown)

Payne carried adult-use bills in both 2024 and 2025 sessions. Neither received a committee hearing.

Sen. Eric Bassler (R-Washington)

Bassler authored SB 294 in 2024 — one of the rare Senate Republican cannabis bills of the modern era. It died without a hearing.

The Democratic Minority

Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis)

Taylor carried the 2024 comprehensive medical-cannabis vehicle SB 126 and the 2025 medical bill SB 400. Both died without committee action.

Rep. Mitch Gore (D-Indianapolis)

Gore filed a limited-possession bill in January 2026 aimed at reducing penalties for personal-use possession.

Former Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Ogden Dunes)

Indiana’s pioneer reformer. Senate District 4 from December 2005 to her 2022 retirement, dubbed “The Pot Legislator” by Nuvo Newsweekly. Her record: SB 347 (2012), SB 580 (2013, killed by then-Sen. Mike Young as Corrections chair), SB 314 (2014), SB 114 (2020), and SB 87 / SB 223 (2021). Tallian named the structural problem directly: “This legislature has been afraid to confront the entire cannabis question and takes every opportunity to stop debate.”

Indiana Cannabis Legislators at a Glance

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