Indiana
Indianapolis has a marijuana church. Learn about First Church of Cannabis, how it started, how to join
Did you know Indianapolis has a place of worship dedicated to marijuana?
Testing the bounds of religious freedom, this establishment was created to respond to Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, opening its doors the same day the law went into effect.
“This is what I live by, and I have more faith in this religion than any other,” Bill Levin, founder of the Church of Cannabis told IndyStar in May 2015. “This is my lifestyle. This is millions of people’s lifestyle.” Here’s what we know.
Indiana Marijuana Legislation Could Indiana decriminalize marijuana after a recent DEA announcement? Here’s what we know
What is the Church of Cannabis?
The First Church of Cannabis was founded by Levin in 2015 in response to Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law by former governor Mike Pence on March 26, 2015, and went into effect on July 1, 2015.
When the law finally went into effect on July 1, the doors of Levin’s beloved establishment opened that same day, as previously reported by the IndyStar. According to the First Church of Cannabis website, the group’s mission is to “celebrate life’s great adventure by building on compassion, good health, and love.”
While the group is unable to participate in the “holy sacrament” of being able to light up at their regular Wednesday service, they’ve found other ways to fill the time, according to the IndyStar. A typical service starts with a shorter sermon from Levin before opening the floor to members to discuss concerns. They also perform a “diety dozen,” with affirmations of marijuana as a means of healing. Learn more about the “diety dozen” here.
Where is the First Church of Cannabis?
The First Church of Cannabis is located at 3400 S Rural St. in Indianapolis.
Who founded the First Church of Cannabis?
Levin, 68, founder and leader of the First Church of Cannabis, is a long-standing marijuana advocate who began working with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in the late 19990s, according to the church’s website. He eventually started his own pro-cannabis organization, ReLegalize Indiana.
Levin also ran for political positions as a Libertarian in the early 2010s, with marijuana legislation as a key focus, but came up short. When the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed, “Bill took this as an opportunity to establish The First Church of Cannabis on the basis of ‘Cannatarian’ religion where love is the most important and including the sacrament, cannabis,” according to Church of Cannabis.
Marijuana Church challenges Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Levin and the Church of Cannabis filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana, Pence and Attorney General Greg Zoeller in July 2015 with the claim that denying them the right to smoke in public infringes on religious freedom. A second lawsuit was filed on March 3, 2016 against the city of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and former Police Chief Rick Hite.
The filed suits argued that members’ use of marijuana at the Church of Cannabis should be protected under Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but was dismissed by the Indiana Court of Appeals in December of 2018.
“I feel sorry for the people who are not educated in this subject matter,” Levin previously said to the IndyStar. “We’ll keep doing what we’re doing, because we’re doing God’s work.”
Becoming a member of the First Church of Cannabis
Members can join for an annual fee of $54 on the group’s website. Click here to learn more.
Indiana
Live updates: Indiana vs. Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinal
Atlanta will host a top-five Big Ten rematch in the Peach Bowl on Friday. No. 1 Indiana will take on No. 5 Oregon in a semifinal of the College Football Playoff for a chance to compete for a national championship. The Hoosiers won the regular-season matchup 30-20. This is the fifth all-time meeting between the teams, with the series tied 2-2.
Both defenses have proved stout, making the offenses the biggest determining factor in this game. Indiana is second in scoring defense, while Oregon is close behind at sixth. The Hoosiers have the advantage on the line, giving up the third-fewest rushing yards in the nation. Oregon, however, has the edge in the air, allowing the ninth-fewest passing yards. The Ducks also pitched a shutout in the Orange Bowl against Texas Tech.
The Hoosiers didn’t skip a beat on offense, handing Alabama its first 30-point loss this side of the new millennium. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza was highly efficient, going 14-of-16 with three touchdowns and no interceptions. That efficiency has helped Indiana earn the top seed; the Hoosiers have committed the fewest penalties of any CFP team and have the fourth-fewest penalty yards in the nation.
Oregon, meanwhile, struggled to score for most of its quarterfinal matchup against Texas Tech. The Ducks didn’t reach the end zone until 11:20 remained in the third quarter and rushed for just 64 yards. Dante Moore threw for 234 yards but had no touchdowns, an interception and minus-12 rushing yards due to constant pressure.
Indiana is the favorite, but Oregon has been one of the strongest units in the country, with its lone loss coming against the Hoosiers. Will the Ducks learn from their earlier mistakes, or will Indiana continue one of the most dominant runs of the CFP era?
Indiana
Rematch history in CFP and BCS favors Oregon vs. Indiana in Peach Bowl
Oregon struggles to match Indiana’s dominant defensive front
Oregon must control the line of scrimmage to have any hope against Indiana’s dominant front.
The College Football Playoff national semifinal at the Peach Bowl marks a rematch of No. 1 seed Indiana’s 30-20 win against No. 5 Oregon in October, the first of several results this year that have left the Hoosiers knocking on the door of a historic and unbeaten season.
With two more wins, Indiana would become the first 16-0 national champion since Yale in 1894. But in order to make history, the Hoosiers will need to reverse some recent history.
Since the 1996 season, there have been seven regular-season rematches in the College Football Playoff and in national championship games played under the two previous postseason formats, the Bowl Championship Series and the Bowl Alliance. Four of these pairings have occurred since the playoff expanded last season.
Surprisingly, all but one of these games have seen the loser from the regular season rebound to win the rematch. This could be a coincidence. At a minimum, though, this trend shows the difficulties in defeating an elite opponent twice in under a four-month span.
The Hoosiers look to buck that recent history. Here’s a look back at these rematches and what they might suggest about the Peach Bowl:
Ole Miss vs. Georgia, 2025
Results: Georgia 43-35, Ole Miss 39-34.
Ole Miss led Georgia in the second half when the two met in October but coughed up a lead for its one and only loss on the year. The two SEC rivals met again in the Sugar Bowl earlier this month, with the Rebels pulling out the win on a late field goal. Unlike during the regular season, Ole Miss landed a big game from Trinidad Chambliss and did much better running the ball, indicating how teams can strategize by looking back and evaluating the previous matchup.
Ole Miss vs. Tulane, 2025
Results: Ole Miss 45-10, Ole Miss 41-10.
Here’s the one outlier. The Rebels stampeded over Tulane at home in September and then did the same in the opening round. The one difference: Lane Kiffin was the head coach for the first game and Pete Golding for the second. In this case, a significant edge in talent was the biggest factor in helping Ole Miss defy recent history.
Oklahoma vs. Alabama, 2025
Results: Oklahoma 23-21, Alabama 34-24.
Again, an SEC rematch that reversed the regular-season result. Oklahoma’s win in November sparked its run to the playoff. That seemed to carry over to the opening round, when the Sooners stormed out to a 17-0 lead. But the Tide crawled back to tie for the biggest comeback in playoff history.
Oregon vs. Ohio State, 2024
Results: Oregon 32-31, Ohio State 41-21.
Oregon narrowly pulled out the win in Autzen Stadium and then went on to post a perfect regular season, earning the top seed in the debut of the expanded playoff. But in the Rose Bowl the Ducks ran into a buzzsaw in the Buckeyes, who stormed out to a 34-0 late in the second quarter and won going away. A year later, Oregon hopes to follow Ohio State’s blueprint and score the upset against the unbeaten Big Ten champs.
Alabama vs. Georgia, 2021
Results: Alabama 42-24, Georgia 33-18.
The Tide knocked off then-unbeaten Georgia in the SEC championship game behind 421 yards and three touchdowns from quarterback Bryce Young. That landed Alabama in the four-team playoff as the No. 1 seed, while Georgia slotted in at No. 3. The pair met in the championship game after beating Cincinnati and Michigan, respectively, and the Bulldogs would hold Young to 6.5 yards per throw and make two picks to take the first of back-to-back titles.
LSU vs. Alabama, 2011
Results: LSU 9-6, Alabama 21-0
The Tigers’ overtime win during the regular season was about as ugly as the score suggests with five field goals being the only scores. The rematch in the title game about two months later wasn’t any better. Alabama’s defense barely allowed LSU to cross midfield in this second meeting to win the second of Nick Saban’s six titles in Tuscaloosa.
Results: Florida State 24-21, Florida 52-20.
No other rematch has come within such a short time frame. FSU topped Florida on Nov. 30 to end the regular season and drew the immediate rematch in the Sugar Bowl, which was designated as the championship game in the Bowl Alliance format, because then-No. 2 Arizona State was obligated to face No. 4 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. This time, Steve Spurrier’s Gators bombarded the Seminoles to capture the first national title in program history with the Sun Devils falling to the Buckeyes.
Indiana
Peach Bowl Ticket Prices Skyrocket Ahead of Oregon and Indiana Rematch
As the No. 5 Oregon Ducks prepare to face off against the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers with a bid to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on the line, ticket prices for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Mercedez-Benz Stadium have increased.
Though Duck fans were outnumbered in the previous playoff quarterfinal against Texas Tech at the Orange Bowl in Miami, a Big Ten rematch might drum up more fans wearing green at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
That increase in visiting fans, plus the importance of this game, can be seen through the surging prices for tickets on event websites.
Current Prices for Peach Bowl Tickets
The cheapest tickets to get into the Peach Bowl start at standing room only, with a $166.50 price from Ticketmaster and a $178 price on StubHub.
This total for standing room has decreased since allotment tickets sold out on Monday, with Oregon Ducks on Sports Illustrated reporting $184 for standing-room only on StubHub.
Seats behind both teams’ benches have almost the same amount of seats still open, with the cheapest ticket behind the Ducks’ bench sit around the club 130 section in row 34 for $628.32 on StubHub. Ticketmaster has a $638 price tag per ticket in the same section a few rows up, which the website states is discounted from an over $1,000 original resale listing.
The most affordable sections according to both websites is the upper decks with sections 342 through 350 on the Oregon bench side selling in the $250-$300 range a piece. The highest-priced ticket, according to Ticketmaster, sits on the side of the Indiana bench in section 110 in the club, with a price of $4,760. However, there are several club level tickets with price tags well over a grand.
Oregon’s Ticket Allotment Sold Out Early
At the beginning of the week, the allotted tickets for Oregon fans to the Peach Bowl had officially sold out through the Oregon Athletic Department. According to the Peach Bowl, this is the 26th time the game has sold out of initial ticket inventory in it’s last 29 kickoffs.
MORE: Oregon Fans Won’t Like Dante Moore’s New Projected NFL Team
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Comparing Peach Bowl Tickets to Oregon’s Other Playoff Games
In terms of ticket prices, the Peach Bowl turnout likely will become the most expensive postseason game for Oregon this season. For the Orange Bowl in Miami, Vivid Seats reported that the get-in price dropped to $39 a ticket.
The Oregon crowd for that showdown was roughly 25 percent compared to 75 percent Texas Tech fans, with many empty seats seen throughout Hard Rock Stadium. Furthermore, the lowest cost for tickets in terms of Oregon’s first round playoff game against James Madison at Autzen Stadium also reached around $50 with only a few hours before kickoff.
The Hoosiers and the Ducks will kickoff at 4:30 p.m. PT from Mercedenz-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
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