The Fountain Square location of WildEye Cannabis is bright green, but really, it looks like any bar. The garage door is open to let in the spring afternoon, glasses sit behind the counter, commercials roll on a handful of TV screens, and stools and chairs sit ready for customers.
Sitting inside, owner Nicholas Brown says he wants people to know right away what they’re selling, which is why the full name is painted on the side of the building.
You can still grab a drink, but it won’t have any alcohol. Instead, the cannabis consumption lounge offers THC-infused mocktails as well as dabs, chocolate bars and more.
“We create a third space for people that is alcohol free,” said Brown. “We create, like, a safe and comforting environment with a good vibe for people, and the people that we hire kind of help cater to that vibe.”
Three of Indiana’s four neighboring states have legalized cannabis for recreational adult use. The fourth, Kentucky, has legalized medical use. In a state where neither medical nor recreational marijuana is legal, businesses like WildEye have been able to thrive under the so-called “Farm Bill loophole.” Hundreds of Indiana businesses sell hemp and would face closure if the regulations changed.
The 2018 passage of the federal Farm Bill defined the difference between hemp and pot, which come from the same plant. Depending on a handful of agricultural factors, the plant produces different cannabinoids, one of which is delta-9, the compound that produces the high associated with weed.
If the plant contains over 0.3% delta-9 on a dry-weight basis, it is considered pot. If it is below 0.3%, it’s hemp. Pot is illegal in Indiana. Hemp is not.
Although the number is low, this technicality has allowed Hoosier businesses and consumers legal access to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the intoxicating chemical in cannabis.
“We’re trying to cater, like, an experience for people, whether they want to just, like, feel good and be well, or whether they want to feel good and be stoned,” said Brown.
Earlier this year, Indiana Senate Bill 250 aimed to close this loophole. Although it did not pass, the legislation raised a number of questions and concerns regarding the continued existence of small businesses, the current state of hemp in Indiana, federal compliance and what is legal for Hoosiers to use today.
“The only thing that’s illegal for hemp in Indiana is selling the hemp flower at retail,” said Justin Swanson, managing director for government and state relations at Bose Public Affairs and chair of the cannabis practice group at Bose McKinney & Evans.
“That’s what’s referred to as ‘smokable hemp’ in our statute.”
Businesses pushback in the Statehouse
Had SB 250 passed—or if similar legislation passes in the future—businesses like WildEye would have to shut down. That’s why a number of business owners came to testify against SB 250 on Feb. 19 at the Statehouse.
“We will be forced to close our doors and move all of our businesses out of the state of Indiana,” said Robert Theodorow, owner of Generation NA, a non-alcoholic bottle shop in Lafayette, during the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee. “We want responsible regulation. We’ve asked for that from the beginning”.
But supporters of SB 250 take issue with the availability of THC in the state and wish to change it.
“We’re not looking to take down small businesses in the state of Indiana. We just want the psychoactive substances to have meaningful guardrails,” said Kim Sexton Yager, a representative from the Indiana Drug Enforcement Association.
Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, said the bill—82 pages in its final form—focused on four things: age restrictions, aligning Indiana’s limit per container with the federal limit, licensing through the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, and allowing a state vote if pot were federally legalized.
The Indiana legislature has a Republican supermajority, and many legislators focus on conservative policies. State politics have also long been entangled with “blue laws”, a remnant of the Prohibition Era. Under these laws, alcohol and automobile sales have had Sunday restrictions, with some laws being adjusted or removed within the last decade.
Freeman also represents the home of one of the state’s biggest employers, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. Into the 1930s, Lilly was involved in cannabis production. However, following the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, priorities shifted.
“It is egregious to me that my kid can walk in a gas station and buy this stuff,” Freeman said.
Brown and other supporters of cannabis legalization agree with some of the proposed regulations, including age restrictions.
“I want Prohibition to be over. And I want, I want these legal products to be safe products that are regulated properly” said Brown. “Keep it out of the hands of kids, you know?”
Meredith Barnett of Mellow Mood Hemp Co., based in McCordsville, said during the hearing that the bill would wipe out a number of hemp products, including lotions, soaps and beverages.
“This forces law enforcement to police low-risk items instead of focusing on real public safety threats,” she said. “Many families could lose their livelihoods, and this bill undermines Indiana’s values of agriculture, entrepreneurship and personal responsibility. A one-size-fits-all approach does not fit here.”
Jack Babcock from the Health Club, a THC seltzer brand, said the bill would force the business to leave the state.
“There is a way to do this and keep children safe and keep citizens safe,” he said.
The bill passed the Senate with 35 yeas and 13 nays but was never scheduled to be heard on the House floor before the legislative session ended in February, which caused the bill to die. For now, the loophole stays open and so do these businesses.
“I think if we’re going to call it a loophole, we need to call it a 12-year loophole at this point,” said Swanson.
Despite an uncertain future in the state, the industry looks for footing
Boiling the issue down, Swanson explained that cannabis has historically been grown on American soil.
“The Farm Bill, the intent was to really focus on the industrial application of cannabis and focus more on the industrial and grain side,” said Swanson. “With that law came innovation.”
Under the Farm Bill, consumable hemp products are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the years since it has passed, the FDA has not released regulations for businesses or consumers, according to Swanson.
As long as hemp and forms of THC remain legal in Indiana, advocates, businesses and agriculture alike are calling for regulation and state support in legalization.
“We’re developing this industry without any regulation, without any safety, without any adherence to the understanding that Indiana has become what they call the Wild West of hemp, or the Wild West of cannabis,” said Lucy Luman, chairwoman Indiana's state chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana.
Luman said a main barrier in progress in Indiana is a misunderstanding about what hemp is.
“Most of our legislation has been written with terminology that is not accurate, not only to the plant but to the culture and business that is associated,” said Luman.
Luman said INORML has been working on developing and supporting an Indiana Cannabis Commission, as opposed to the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission that currently oversees stores selling THC products in the state. Under SB 250, the ATC would have been given official oversight of hemp products in Indiana.
Luman said the Indiana legislature is in a vulnerable position right now after the midcycle redistricting vote failure in December 2025, which is one factor that may cause lawmakers to shy away from supporting the cannabis industry.
“It is a very bold thing to stand up for cannabis reform,” said Luman. “Students feel uncomfortable even in an academic space, let alone in a professional space and let alone in the Indiana Statehouse, where if you stand up and say, ‘Hey, this is wrong,’ that could have potentially damning effects on your career.”
Luman also pointed to the lack of local support for medical marijuana, in spite of being surrounded by legal states.
“We’re not giving that same medical access to Hoosiers,” she said. “We have so many different methods and terpenes and things that can impact the body in really positive ways, and we’re not giving people access to them. In fact, we’re incarcerating people.”
Meanwhile, beyond the Statehouse doors, hundreds of acres of Indiana soil contain hemp crops. Marguerite Bolt, the hemp extension specialist in the department of agronomy at Purdue University, runs the The Hemp Project. In her work, she educates farmers and the public about hemp and works with the private sector, researchers and developers to increase both production and processing of the plant in Indiana.
“We can absolutely grow hemp here. We have the right environmental conditions to do so, and hemp was historically grown in Indiana,” said Bolt. One aspect of her research is exploring what plant genetics thrive in the state.
On the other side of the field, Indiana lacks the infrastructure to process hemp, according to Bolt. While the state has a lot of capacity to process cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating chemical produced by the plant, there’s a lack of processing for grain or fiber.
“That grain and fiber has, I think, more long-term sustainability, mostly because there are so many different products you can make,” said Bolt. Grain from hemp is considered a “superfood,” and the fibers can be used for textiles and construction.
Bolt said with the development of processing capabilities, Hoosier farmers could continue to cultivate hemp crops and explore the possibilities of the plant outside of an intoxicating substance. Proper infrastructure in or near Indiana could allow lower shipping costs and give farmers flexibility in crop diversification, which allows for adjustments to shifting climates and economies.
“I see a lot of promise here,” said Bolt. “It’s just going to take time.”
For now, hundreds of Hoosier businesses like WildEye will be able to keep their doors open. Regulations continue to change, both at the federal level and in neighboring states. But business owner Brown hopes for a legalized future.
“We can grow all these different products right here,” he said, then tax cannabis products and use the money to fix infrastructure in the state, pointing to the streets around the Fountain Square neighborhood.
“It’s just not your choice. It should be everybody’s choice,” he said. “That makes the country free, right?”
Erin Bruce was a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com and a former editor of Franklin College campus newspaper The Franklin before graduating in May. She completed this deep dive into Indiana's cannabis industry for her senior project. She is now working as a leadership consultant for Zeta Tau Alpha.
The Statehouse File is a news site powered by Franklin College journalism students.