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INDIANAPOLIS | Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, plans to push for legalizing medicinal marijuana in Indiana.

Tallian said she will introduce a bill for the upcoming legislative session to allow people with certain health problems to legally use marijuana.

"For this upcoming session, I have a bill ready to file to legalize medical marijuana," Tallian said in a statement issued Tuesday. "I am ready and eager to get to work after this last major federal obstacle has been lifted."

She said Congress lifted a major hurdle last week by preventing the Justice Department from using federal money to prosecute medical marijuana patients or distributors who are following their states' laws.

Tallian has filed bills in recent years to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, but those proposals have failed to advance.

"My bills in the past have only addressed the decriminalization of marijuana, but I had planned on including a medical facet of the proposal that would allow for medical marijuana in Indiana," Tallian said.

Tallian says she believes the public is becoming more accepting of allowing the use of medical marijuana.