Chemical high bill moves to full Senate

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indiana is one step closer to a stronger ban on synthetic chemicals like bath salts, spice and K2. An Indiana Senate committee gave unanimous approval to the measure Tuesday morning.

A law passed by the General Assembly made 21 synthetic canabinoids and cathinones illegal, effective July 1, 2011.

“We thought we had caught it,” said State Sen. Brent Steele (R-Bedford). “But, then these chemists found a way to keep ahead of our drug laws, and now we’re trying to keep ahead of the chemists.”

Steele chairs the Senate’s Committee on Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters.

In November, an I-Team 8 hidden camera investigation found many of the products still being sold on local store shelves, under new names like jewelry cleaner, plant food, pleasure cream and 420 cubed. After testing the substances, Indiana State Police found they do not contain the specific chemical cocktails outlawed under last year’s ban.

“They label it not for human consumption, but they all know what it’s doing. Over the summer, after the law went in, the bad guys — as we’ll call them — came up with new isomers, and changed a molecule here and molecule there. These drugs have been responsible for the death of several young persons around the state of Indiana, and that’s not acceptable,” Steele said.

Now, lawmakers want to enhance the ban to include the new chemicals.

But, Steele says the new bill — SB234, which passed the committee by a 10-0 vote — would go even further by allowing the state’s pharmacy board to “emergency schedule” a chemical compound, then recommend it be made illegal.

“Instead of coming back every year and every year [to outlaw new compounds], we think we've got a bill now designed so that the state pharmacy board can immediately pick up on these, pass a rule regulation on it, catch it, and make it illegal. Then the legislature can come back within 6 months and pass a law accordingly. And, we think this will be model legislation that other states will look at as well,” Steele said.

The bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Jim Meritt (R-Indianapolis) wrote it after seeing I-Team 8's investigation . On Tuesday, he called it landmark legislation that will help save lives.

“In my opinion, it may be the bill of the session,” Meritt told the committee. “Many people have represented to me that many people have died from these drugs that are legal now. And, we're taking the best steps we can to make sure these are illegal now from this session and in the years to come.”

SB234 now moves on to the full Senate.