About 18 percent of juvenile probationers who attend Tippecanoe County schools failed random drug screens administered by the probation office on April 26. It was the second year in a row that Tippecanoe County probation officers have visited schools to administer drug screen tests shortly after April 20, designated by some as "420 Day." Since the 1970s, 420 has been used as a code word by marijuana connoisseurs for their drug of choice. "This is going to continue. ... It's a nationally recognized thing," Joshua Vander Plaats, a juvenile probation officer who organized the local mass screenings, said of 420 Day. [continues 247 words]
Experts Say Careful Observation, Documentation Can Help Police Nab Offenders Linda Damrow wishes she had a dollar for every time she hears concerned citizens say they don't want to report drug activity in their neighborhoods for fear the drug dealers will "burn my house down." "The only houses I've seen burned down so far have been meth houses," longtime Montgomery County Sheriff Dennis Rice responded. The exchange took place Wednesday during the last of four brown bag forums on methamphetamine hosted by the Mental Health Association. About 40 people listened as Damrow and her husband, Don, talked about efforts to rid their Crawfordsville neighborhood of a "drug house" where children lived and methamphetamine was manufactured about 3 1/2 years ago. [continues 321 words]
Methamphetamine addicts act like no other type of drug addicts George Frantz has encountered in more than 20 years as a drug investigator in western Indiana. And after hearing a pharmacology professor's explanation Wednesday of how meth works on the brain, Frantz has a better understanding of why. "The meth addict is just a totally different person than what I've dealt with," said Frantz, of the Bi-State Drug Task Force. "They're totally consumed." That's because methamphetamine "hijacks the normal reward pathways of the brain," according to Eric Barker, associate professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Purdue University. [continues 367 words]
CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Joshua P. Kelsey was a poly-substance addict who had let drugs take control of his life when 14 months ago he caused a fatal automobile crash that killed his younger brother and one of his closest friends. Kelsey, now 19, was driving a minivan on U.S. 136 in eastern Montgomery County with Justin M. Kelsey, 16, and Kaleb C. Wharff, 18, as passengers when he was distracted and veered off the road. He lost control, hit a culvert and the van landed on its side, ejecting the two passengers. [continues 731 words]
