Indiana House backs broader ban on synthetic drugs

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP/WANE) The Indiana House approved a bill that would broaden the state’s ban on synthetic drugs.

The Indiana House approved a bill that would broaden the state’s ban on synthetic drugs. The ban now includes compounds nicknamed “bath salts” and others that mimic marijuana.

The House voted 97-0 Thursday to endorse adding some two dozen chemical compounds to a law that legislators passed last year that bans the synthetic marijuana known as spice or K2.

Butler Police Chief Jim Nichols told NewsChannel 15 spice is a huge problem in his town, mostly because there’s a well-known manufacturer and dealer down the block from the police station. There’s technically nothing illegal about what owners of the Urban KAOS sell because it’s made up of a different formula than the one banned by the current law.

“This gives us the teeth that we need to go in and let them know that this drug is now illegal, you are not able to manufacture possess, or distribute it and if you do we will prosecute you,” said Nichols.

The bill also specifies that related mixtures are illegal and gives the state pharmacy board the authority to declare a substance is a synthetic drug.

Phil Wickizer is the director of the Indiana Board of Pharmacy. He said board members would be able to put an emergency ban on new formulas of synthetic drugs even when legislators are not in session.

“What really changes with this law is they've given us the ability between sessions to not just make a recommendation, but to take action,” said Wickizer. “We don't want them just banning anything. We put in some catches. It has to be a substance that the US Drug Enforcement Administration has banned, or has been determined to be illegal in another state as well.”

Bill sponsor Representative Milo Smith of Columbus, Indiana says such flexibility is needed to react to drug makers adjusting their formulas.

The law treats possessing or dealing synthetic marijuana the same as the real drug. It’s punishable by up to a year in jail.