Is Marijuana Legal in Indiana? Penalties, Hemp, and Delta-8

No, marijuana is not legal in Indiana. The state bans it for both recreational and medical use, has no dispensary system, and no medical marijuana card program. Possessing any amount is a criminal offense that can put you in jail, and the penalties climb quickly if you have a prior drug conviction or are caught with larger quantities.

Indiana is one of roughly ten states that still has neither a medical nor a recreational marijuana law.¹ Hemp-derived CBD with 0.3% delta-9 THC or less is legal, but that is a narrow carve-out and smokable hemp is banned outright.

What Indiana Law Counts as Marijuana

Indiana’s criminal definition of marijuana excludes three things: hemp, low-THC hemp extract, and smokable hemp.² Hemp and low-THC hemp extract (oils, edibles, tinctures, topicals containing no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC) are legal to buy, sell, and possess. Smokable hemp sits in the third category: excluded from the marijuana statute but prohibited under its own law, which is covered below.

Everything else that is cannabis — flower, concentrates, edibles made from marijuana, hash oil, hashish — is illegal in any amount.

Penalties for Possessing Marijuana

Possessing any amount of marijuana in Indiana is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.³⁴ That applies to a single joint or a few grams in a bag — the amount does not matter at the base level.

Two things make it worse:

If you have any prior drug conviction, the same possession charge becomes a Class A misdemeanor: up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.³
Possessing 30 grams or more with a prior drug conviction is a Level 6 felony: six months to two and a half years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.³⁵

Growing marijuana falls under the same statute. Cultivating plants, or knowingly allowing marijuana to grow on your property without destroying it, counts as possession and carries the same penalties.³

Penalties for Selling or Delivering Marijuana

Selling, delivering, or manufacturing marijuana starts as a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.⁶ From there:

Selling 30 grams to under 10 pounds, or selling any amount under 30 grams with a prior drug conviction, is a Level 6 felony: six months to two and a half years and up to a $10,000 fine.⁶
Selling 10 or more pounds, selling to a minor, or selling 30 grams to under 10 pounds with a prior dealing conviction is a Level 5 felony: one to six years and up to a $10,000 fine.⁶

A retailer who knowingly packages marijuana to look like a legal hemp extract product and sells it faces a Level 5 felony.⁶

Paraphernalia Is a Separate Charge

If you are caught with marijuana, the pipe, bong, or vape cartridge found alongside it can bring its own charge. Possessing paraphernalia you intend to use with a controlled substance is a Class C misdemeanor, carrying up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. A second conviction becomes a Class A misdemeanor with up to a year in jail.⁷

Rolling papers, drug test kits, and fentanyl test strips are specifically excluded from the paraphernalia definition.⁷

First Offenders Can Ask for Conditional Discharge

Indiana offers one narrow option for first-time offenders. If you have no prior drug convictions and plead guilty to misdemeanor possession, the court can defer entering a judgment of conviction and place you on supervised conditions. If you complete the conditions, the charges are dismissed.⁸

Three limits matter. You get this once in your lifetime. Any violation lets the court enter the conviction and impose the original penalty. And the court is not required to grant it; conditional discharge is discretionary.⁸

Driving With Marijuana in Your System

Driving with any detectable amount of a Schedule I substance in your blood, including marijuana or its metabolites, is a Class C misdemeanor.⁹ Marijuana metabolites can stay in the bloodstream for days or weeks after use, so you can be charged long after any impairment has worn off.

The law carves out a limited defense specifically for marijuana metabolites. You must show all four of the following: you were not actually intoxicated, you did not cause a traffic accident, the substance was marijuana or a marijuana metabolite, and it was identified through a lawful chemical test.⁹ Fall short on any one prong and the defense fails.

A conviction for operating while intoxicated can also suspend your license for up to two years on a first offense, 180 days to two years on a second, and one to ten years on a third.¹⁰

There Is No Medical Marijuana Program

Indiana has no medical marijuana cards, no licensed dispensaries, and no legal way to obtain marijuana for any medical condition — not for chronic pain, not for cancer treatment, not for epilepsy. A doctor’s recommendation does not create a defense. A valid medical marijuana card from another state does not either; Indiana does not recognize out-of-state cards, and bringing product in from a legal state exposes you to the same possession charges as any other Indiana resident.

Smokable Hemp Is Banned

Even though hemp flower meets the federal 0.3% delta-9 THC threshold and is sold openly in neighboring states, Indiana bans it. “Smokable hemp” means any hemp product designed to be inhaled as smoke, specifically including hemp buds and flowers.¹¹

Manufacturing, delivering, or possessing smokable hemp is classified as dealing in smokable hemp, a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. Any amount triggers the same charge; the statute does not distinguish personal use from dealing. The only exception is for licensed hemp producers shipping smokable hemp through Indiana in continuous transit to another state.¹²

Delta-8 THC and the Shifting Hemp Rules

Delta-8 THC and similar hemp-derived cannabinoids currently occupy a legal gray zone. These products are derived from legal hemp and fall outside Indiana’s criminal marijuana definition as long as their delta-9 THC content stays at or below 0.3%. That has allowed delta-8, THCA, and other intoxicating cannabinoid products to proliferate in Indiana gas stations, vape shops, and convenience stores.

Lawmakers have tried to close the gap. In 2026, Senate Bill 250 would have banned intoxicating synthetic cannabinoid products and created a regulated framework for low-potency hemp with a 21-and-older age requirement. The bill passed the Senate but died in the House after missing a reading deadline, and legislators noted the language could still be revived by amending another bill.¹³

1
Indiana Capital Chronicle. Indiana Keeps Bucking Marijuana Legalization, Tightening Related Laws Instead
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-1.1-29 – Marijuana
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-4-11 – Possession of Marijuana, Hash Oil, Hashish, or Salvia
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-3-3 – Class B Misdemeanor
5
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-7 – Class D Felony; Level 6 Felony
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-4-10 – Dealing in Marijuana, Hash Oil, Hashish, or Salvia
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-4-8.3 – Possession of Paraphernalia
8
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-4-12 – Conditional Discharge for Possession
9
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-30-5-1 – Class C Misdemeanor; Defense
10
Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. Impaired Driving
11
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-1.1-38 – Smokable Hemp
12
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-48-4-10.1 – Dealing in Smokable Hemp
13
Indiana Capital Chronicle. Hemp Production and the 2018 Farm Bill
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 7 U.S. Code 1639o – Definitions