Indiana's state legislature is currently debating Senate Bill 192 and reviewing the state's marijuana laws, specifically on criminal law and procedure.

Senate Bill 192 focuses primarily on marijuana's effect on Indiana's criminal justice system, whether marijuana should remain illegal in Indiana, the implementation of medical marijuana and if marijuana does become legal, how sales and taxation will be handled.

The Senate Committee on Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters administered the study regarding the concerns conferred in the bill.

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New Albany Police on Tuesday cited seven stores that they say sold synthetic marijuana to undercover officers in violation of a new city ordinance prohiting the sale of such products.

Police Chief Todd Bailey said the stores were each fined $50 as called for in the ordinance passed last November.

Products displayed by officers in a news conference included Kimchi Blueberry Spice, Candyman Blends, Fuego Spice, Nirvana Spice and Buddha's Blend Spice ranging in price from $9.99 to $16.04 per package, typically 1.5 grams.

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Flawed Results From State Toxicology Lab Give Defense Lawyers New Ammunition

In what was otherwise a routine drunken-driving trial, defense attorneys in Hamilton County this week attempted a strategy that legal experts predict might become increasingly popular -- and successful -- in Indiana courtrooms.

They tried to put the state's Department of Toxicology on trial.

The legal maneuver comes on the heels of last week's report in The Indianapolis Star that revealed the depth of testing problems at the lab: An ongoing audit found lab errors in 10 percent of 2,000 positive blood tests for marijuana.

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An auditor hired by the state Department of Toxicology is reviewing all of the department's drug test results from 2007-09 -- including those used for criminal convictions -- because of concerns about accuracy.

The tests cover thousands of cases. Most Indiana law enforcement agencies, including the Indiana State Police, use the lab for blood testing. Marion County, which has its own lab, does not.

Former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman, hired in August to fix problems at the troubled agency, stressed that he doesn't know yet whether any results are inaccurate. But he said the situation was such that "a person who is responsible would not feel comfortable and would feel the need to investigate."

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To the editor:

Sunday's column by Brian Howey about our marijuana laws did not pose the important question: When is this insanity going to end?

It's obvious the so-called "War on Drugs" is not winnable. Estimates are that the U.S. is spending almost $14 billion per year on enforcing marijuana laws.

When are the politicians going to start collecting taxes on the billions in lost revenue and stop putting people in jail for something that can be grown anywhere?

Robert L. Smith

Boonville, Ind.

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Eighth-graders in Marion County and throughout the state are more likely to smoke, drink and use marijuana than their counterparts in the rest of the nation, a new study finds.

Drug-prevention experts here know the problem exists. But they don't know why.

The high rate of use may stem from scant dollars for prevention, more accessible drugs and the lack of a community network to address teen drug use, they say.

"I wish we had a better handle on some of the specific reasons," said Randy Miller, executive director of Drug Free Marion County. "It would make it easier for us to address and reduce it. That's part of the struggle."

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Once again, the Delaware County Coordinating Council to Prevent Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse is sponsoring Red Ribbon Week locally in conjunction with the national drug awareness observance held each October.

Red Ribbon Week originated in 1985 as a result of the death of a Drug Enforcement Agent and is dedicated to all of those who have been wrongfully killed due to drugs and violence. This year's Red Ribbon celebration activities will be this week.

In the next few days, all children attending public school in Delaware County will be sent home information regarding this year's activities and discounts, along with a red silicon bracelet imprinted with the Red Ribbon Week Theme. This year's theme is "My Life, My Future, Drug Free." Many of the schools will be participating by doing different activities in the classroom. I would also like to challenge parents to take this opportunity to talk to your child about the importance of being drug, alcohol and tobacco free.

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After The Pseudoephedrine Law Knocked The Drug Down, It Returned With A Vengeance.

GASTON -- On a Thursday afternoon in September, police converged on an older house near downtown Gaston with whitewashed clapboard siding.

Across the street, Kaylie Starrett watched from her own home, confused by all the commotion. In the 18 months or so that Starrett had lived in the neighborhood, everyone across the street seemed friendly.

It wasn't until later that she learned from friends that police suspected her neighbors were manufacturing methamphetamine.

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Warsaw Community High School has had a drug testing policy for at least 11 years, Dave Anson, WCHS assistant principal, said.

"Any student that is in an athletic program, any student that applies for a parking tag and any student in a vocational program" is in the testing pool, Anson said.

"In all, we get about half of the students in the testing pools. No kid is in the pool more than once," said Anson.

If a student is an athlete, has a parking tag and is in a vocational program, that student's name still only appears in the pool once. Some students may never end up tested during their high school career, while another may end up selected several times in a year.

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In the 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded schools' power to randomly drug test students in all extracurricular activities.

"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school district's legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug use," Justice Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court, said in the 5-4 decision for the case of Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls.

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How bad the drug problem is at local schools might depend on who you ask.

Four randomly selected students at Warsaw Community High School were interviewed Sept. 16 about their thoughts on drug use and testing.

"I'm from Wisconsin, a worse town than this. Compared to that, there's not really a problem," said senior Jack Donohue, 18.

WCHS's random drug testing program includes students who drive to school, are in a vocational program or are athletes. Donohue drives to school, so his name could be pulled for drug testing, but it hasn't as of Sept. 16.

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SONOMA, Calif. -- There is one thing, and perhaps one thing only, that the two candidates for governor of California agree on: Ballot Proposition 19, The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is a bad idea.

In 1996, California voters approved medical marijuana, which has -- with some exceptions -- enjoyed widespread acceptance. Under current law, there are roughly 500,000 patients at hundreds of dispensaries. Cannabis, with estimated annual sales of $14 billion, has become the state's largest cash crop.

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With the Supreme Court's blessing, schools are allowed to randomly test students for drugs.

Not every school corporation in Kosciusko County does it exactly the same, but they all do it for the same reason - to give students another reason to just say "no."

"We do (drug testing) very minimally at the present time," said Dr. Tom Edington, Wawasee School Corp. "The only time we do it is if we know there's a situation involving a student, or a few students, involving drugs, and if they agree to be tested randomly for drugs."

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"It's heartbreaking day in and day out. The heartbreak is every day," said a member of the Kosciusko County Drug Task Force.

Wednesday at the "Meth 2010: Killing a Community" workshop, a panel of local professionals spoke about the impact of methamphetamine on Kosciusko County and Indiana.

Each person on the panel said there is one thing that will curb meth production significantly in the county: If pseudoephedrine is made a scheduled drug, which means it is available only by prescription, the number of individual meth labs will be reduced significantly.

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The city council should approve an ordinance to ban the sale of the synthetic marijuana drug known as K2, or spice, at tonight's meeting. Under the ordinance, any business that sold spice would be fined $250.

The drug was easily available to West Lafayette residents until local police issued a letter to the Citgo gas station at 101 W State St. and Amused at Chauncey Hill officially requesting that they cease and desist the sale of spice. Both businesses complied.

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At Tuesday night's city council meeting, City Councilor Ann Hunt, D-District 3, blocked a motion for a second vote on the spice ban ordinance, which was necessary to pass the ordinance at the meeting. Hunt said she voted in this manner because she felt public education about the drug was necessary and wanted the council to hold a future public hearing. Purdue students should take advantage of this opportunity and show up for the public hearing at the next city council meeting on Oct. 4.

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While Tippecanoe County voted to ban the sale of K2, or spice, on Tuesday, West Lafayette City Council failed to follow suit at its Tuesday night meeting.

The ordinance on the agenda would have banned the possession and sale of the drug K2 - also known as spice or synthetic marijuana - in West Lafayette stores. It failed by one vote, made by Councilor Ann Hunt, R-District 3, who said she voted against the ordinance because she wanted a public hearing on the matter.

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If you're unfamiliar with the terms K2, Pep, Kind or spice, ask your son or daughter who's in high school or college. Unfortunately, you could probably ask your elementary student.

Chances are they know about it; perhaps they know someone who uses it. Maybe they've got first-hand experience.

In a nutshell, spice is an herb mixture marketed as an incense laced with a synthetic chemical that mimics the high produced by smoking marijuana, but it's said to be 10 times more potent.

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Local law enforcement officials are now using a new Web-based method for tracking the sale of pseudoephedrine and other common items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

The Indiana Methamphetamine Investigation System works by combining pseudoephedrine purchase records with criminal records to track suspicious purchasing habits and connect frequent purchasers of pseudoephedrine.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Niki Crawford spoke at a news conference Thursday at the Indiana State Police post in Evansville about the system and new website.

"We're putting a lot of information at the hands of law enforcement," said Crawford, who is also the commander of the Indiana State Police Methamphetamine Suppression Section.

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A spike in fatal and near-fatal overdoses in Northwest Indiana is prompting suspicion that heroin now in circulation may be Fentanyl-laced, extremely pure, or a combination of both.

In a guest commentary published elsewhere in today's edition of the Chesterton Tribune, Rocco Schiralli, president and CEO of Porter-Starke Services, is reporting six deaths in the last eight weeks in Porter County, one in Lake County, and more than 20 near-fatal ODs.

"The heroin being used in Northwest Indiana RIGHT NOW is extremely lethal," Schiralli writes.

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