A county prosecutor’s group is strongly opposing efforts to allow medical marijuana, saying it’s “wrong for Indiana” and could worsen the state’s drug abuse crisis.
The Association of Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys also debunked cannabis’ medicinal properties. It said the Institute of Medicine concluded this year that there was “insufficient evidence” to use it to treat glaucoma, epilepsy, dementia and a host of other ailments.
The group wrote a letter to the state’s drug czar last week, asking him to “formally oppose the legalization of marijuana in any form, for any purpose.”
“We strongly believe both medicinal and recreational marijuana legalization are wrong for Indiana,” said the Nov. 3 letter to the Indiana Commission to Combat Drug Abuse, chaired by drug czar Jim McClelland. “We urge you to take a stand against these policies that would cause further harm to communities already
suffering from the devastating effects of drug abuse.”
The prosecutors group makes three main points in its plea: It said marijuana use increases the risk of the abuse of opioids and other controlled substances, it claimed that marijuana is not a medicine and it argued that the legalization of marijuana has had “devastating effects” in other states.