Our position: Adding another drug court judge is not the best fix for clogged dockets.

At first glance, there are plenty of reasons why adding a judge to split the caseload of the Marion County Superior Court's drug felonies court appears to be a good idea.

The drug court, after all, accounted for 37 percent of the superior court's open caseload of major felonies last year -- three times more cases than the next largest court. Each drug court judge averaged 422 open cases, more than the total caseload for Court 6. And the court has more inmates than any other awaiting trial in the Marion County Jail.

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Young people are using more smokeless and pipe tobacco and more injection drugs - and their drug use is having an adverse effect on their performance in school.

In addition, more 12th graders are engaged in binge drinking.

Those are among the findings in the 16th Annual Survey of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use by Indiana Children and Adolescents, conducted by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University.

The 2006 results were obtained from data collected from 131,017 students in grades six through 12 in both public and private schools in Indiana.

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But State Survey Shows Smokeless Tobacco Use Up

INDIANAPOLIS -- Fewer middle and high school students are drinking alcohol or using marijuana and other drugs, but more in grades 9-12 are trying smokeless and pipe tobacco, an annual survey shows.

Surveys completed this spring by 131,017 public and private school students in grades 6-12 show students at all levels generally were using alcohol and marijuana less than in previous years, and students in grades 6-8 used tobacco products less, according to the survey released Monday by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University in Bloomington.

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Survey Finds Record Set For Meth, Heroin

The use of injected drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine and steroids is at an all-time high for high school seniors statewide, according to a survey released Monday by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center.

The number of students injecting drugs has increased from 1.8 percent in 2001 to 2.2 percent in 2006.

Statistics for the northeast part of Indiana, which includes Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley counties, mirrored the statewide average.

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Pipe Usage Also Rises, Researchers Discover

There has been a shift from cigarette smoking toward chewing and pipe tobacco among high school students in the past year, according to a survey released Monday by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center.

Reported use of cigarettes among high school students remained unchanged from a drop seen in 2005, while use of chewing tobacco and pipe smoking increased in grades 10 through 12 statewide. Ruth Gassman, executive director of the Indiana Prevention Resource Center, said she didn't know what to attribute the change to but said a lot of prevention effort has been focused solely on cigarette smoking.

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A record number of high school seniors reports injecting drugs such as heroin and meth

The number of Indiana high school seniors who say they have shot up heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs has hit an all-time high, according to new Indiana University findings that are backed by drug counselors.

About 2.2 percent of 12th-graders surveyed by IU's Indiana Prevention Resource Center this spring admitted trying intravenous drugs, which users turn to for a more powerful high. That's an increase of more than 25 percent from a year ago, according to the 16th annual IU survey, to be released today.

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Valparaiso: Forum Will Focus On Education

VALPARAISO | It has been lauded and lambasted. It has helped addicts become clean, yet been the source of addiction for countless others.

But Dr. Alfonso Holliday, who has helped people battle substance abuse for years, is hoping to spread the message that methadone is an effective drug addiction treatment. In part as a requirement to notify the public of his desire to open a methadone treatment facility in Porter County, Holliday is hosting a community forum from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Valparaiso Hampton Inn, 1451 Silhavy Road. He said he hopes to educate people about the efficacy of methadone.

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Rate Increased By 25 Percent In One Year, According To Survey

The number of Indiana high school seniors who say they have shot up heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs has hit an all-time high, according to new Indiana University findings that are backed by drug counselors.

About 2.2 percent of 12th-graders surveyed by IU's Indiana Prevention Resource Center this spring admitted trying intravenous drugs, which users turn to for a more powerful high. That's an increase of more than 25 percent from a year ago, according to the 16th annual IU survey, to be released today.

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CROWN POINT -- Fourteen young men and women stood on the floor of the Lake County Coroner's morgue around the pale, mangled corpse of a Saturday morning accident victim.

"It stops here," investigator George Deliopoulos said after unzipping the body bag and giving his audience a view of everything, but the victim's face, which was covered with a towel. "No one close their eyes," barked Robert Moore, a Crown Point police patrolman.

The captive audience is taking part in Preventing Addictive Toxic Habits (PATH), a grim effort by Crown Point City Court Judge Kent Jeffirs and Coroner David Pastrick to educate young alcohol and drug probationers about the fatal consequences they face.

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With respect to your editorial, "Feds Should Keep Spending Money To Fight Drug Problem," what should be done if anti-drug programs actually increase the abuse of stronger, easier-to-conceal contraband by ever-younger users?

No one reasonably suggests incarceration, asset forfeiture or armed home invasions would protect or deter cigarette smokers, so why should Americans stand for a war waged against us?

Face it, drug war is crime.

Jose Melendez, Communications Director, Concerned Citizens Coalition to Criminalize Prohibition , DeLand, Fla.

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Exactly how much more money should be invested in a long failed drug crusade? Billions of dollars have been wasted fighting drug use with no reduction in drug addiction, so how many more dollars should be put into this ruinous policy?

Before drug prohibition began, no one was robbing, whoring and murdering over drugs. A legal heroin habit was cheaper than a tobacco addiction in 1912. Drug crimes (i.e. robberies, etc., to get drugs) were unheard of. Ditto for unintentional drug overdoses. Almost all of the infrequent opiate deaths before the drug crusade began were suicides. Accidental overdoses were rare.

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HARTFORD CITY - A growing number of overdoses of prescription drugs including the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl has caught the attention of Blackford County officials. They met this week to discuss some alarming statistics, including at least nine deaths attributed to "mixed-drug intoxication" in the north-central county since 2003. Local ambulance runs for the first five months of 2006 include 30 known drug overdoses and 146 for patients having "altered levels" of consciousness.

Detective Jack Beckley, in a statement issued by the Hartford City Police Department on Wednesday, noted the irony that prescription drugs are distributed by doctors "here to heal us and improve our quality of life." "It is so unfortunate that there are certain people in society that take advantage of this by intentionally deceiving medical personnel just to get more pills or patches that they can turn around and sell, which in turn creates more addicts and dealers. It is a vicious cycle," Beckley said.

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HARTFORD CITY - A growing number of overdoses of prescription drugs including the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl has caught the attention of Blackford County officials.

They met this week to discuss some alarming statistics, including at least nine deaths attributed to "mixed-drug intoxication" in the county since 2003. Local ambulance runs for the first five months of 2006 include 30 known drug overdoses and 146 for patients having "altered levels" of consciousness.

Detective Jack Beckley, in a statement issued by the Hartford City Police Department on Wednesday, noted the irony that prescription drugs are distributed by doctors "here to heal us and improve our quality of life."

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The Issue: Porter County Officials' Response to Drug Abuse

Our opinion: For the sake of all citizens of Porter County who have been affected by illegal drugs, let that response not be continued

It's easy to sum up the response from the Porter County commissioners and County Council President Dan Whitten to The Times' recent series on the county's drug crisis:

Zip. Zilch. Zero. That's right. Their response is silence.

Neither has responded to requests from The Times for comment.

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The issue: Drug abuse

Our opinion: It is essential that U.S. Department of Homeland Security money cover drugs as well as other anti-terrorism measures. The drug problem is real and harming lives

Ten years ago, Lake County was identified as a high-intensity drug trafficking area. The federal government has poured money into the county since then to try to fight the spread of drug crimes in the county.

But now that money is at risk as the federal government shifts its priorities from domestic social issues to fighting terrorism. Make no mistake, however. Drugs are terrorizing the populace and causing a tremendous drain on personal and public resources. Continued federal funding of anti-drug programs -- prevention, enforcement and treatment -- is essential.

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David Nichols, professor of medical chemistry and molecular pharmacy, said previous research by another institution explored the administration of LSD to endstage cancer patients. Anxiety and physical pain were alleviated for a majority of the patients, and Nichols traced the relief back to a loss of the fear of death.

"The interesting thing about psychedelics is that they profoundly change the way one views the world," he said. "What part of the brain is so important that it can change the way we perceive reality? That's what keeps me interested."

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As a Christian in Colorado with two school-aged children, I face the same drug-related problems Indiana faces and can answer your question: "What should be done about the drug problem in Porter and LaPorte counties?"

Consistently show credibility and never compromise credibility. I can do this by separating cannabis as a plant from all the serious dangerous and addictive drugs and point directly to the government and people like U.S. Rep. Mark Souder as being responsible for the drug problem because of obvious lack of credibility.

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Heroin: Addicts Cross County, State Lines For Assistance

For many addicts battling substance abuse, county and state lines do not exist: They simply want help wherever they can find it.

This sometimes means crossing the state line and using a friend or family member's home address to get needed services, which happens often with Illinois residents seeking Indiana treatment centers, local treatment officials say. Facilities in Lake, Porter and Cook counties provide inpatient and outpatient programs for people undergoing a substance withdrawal. But often, overwhelmed resources can send patients far from home to get the support they need.

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Transition Went 'Smoothly' At Porter Hospital

VALPARAISO -- Near a time of heightened hospital traffic -- heroin users admitted at Porter hospital jumped 130 percent between 2002 to 2004, according to one study -- Porter decided to consolidate its detox unit.

In February of last year, detox services were merged into the hospital's fourth-floor medical surgical services unit. The move, criticized by some and supported by others, was made, in part, in an effort to be more cost-effective. "From our perspective, it went smoothly," said spokeswoman Robin Carlascio. "When it was isolated, segregated by itself, sometimes you'd have one or two patients, and you'd still need to fully staff it."

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HEROIN: Lake County may soon feel financial woes of Porter County unit.

The funding for the Lake County Drug Task Force is 12 times that of the Porter County Drug Task Force, but those dollars are expected to be gone by 2008.

Commander Zon Haralovich, who heads the Lake County group, said the problems the task forces are addressing are different. Lake County's biggest drug problems come from marijuana and cocaine, while Porter County is seeing a deadly problem with heroin and other opiates. Still, Haralovich said he is concerned about his counterpart in Porter County, Robert Taylor, who is trying to tackle the problem with scarce resources.

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