INDIANA LAWMAKERS CRACK DOWN ON METHAMPHETAMINE

PLYMOUTH -- Gary Cook Fights The Drug War On Two Fronts.

As a law enforcement officer, he sees the hazards and consequences of drugs.

As a state representative, he sees a need to help police and prosecutors
fight the drug trade.

"The numbers are showing this is becoming more and more used in this area,"
said Cook, D-Plymouth, who also is Argos police chief. "Marijuana use is
dropping and meth labs are increasing.

"We needed to enhance the level of the felony charges. There have been
several meth labs discovered in just the Marshall County area."

The Indiana General Assembly responded to the upsurge in meth arrests by
enacting House Bill 1892.

The law, which took effect July 1, bumps up several meth-related crimes to
the next higher felony level, thus increasing the maximum penalties for
such crimes.

It was designed in part to make meth-related crimes equivalent to most
cocaine-related crimes.

State Rep. Michael Dvorak, D-Granger, wrote the bill.

"It was a cooperative work of legislation," Dvorak said. "We worked closely
with the state police and the prosecutor's association."

Several methamphetamine-related bills were introduced in the last session,
including one written by Cook himself.

But in the end, despite differences among all the bills, Dvorak's passed
both houses of the legislature unanimously.

"I voted for it," Cook said. "By and large, by increasing the felonies up a
level, it will be a deterrent for some people."

Also, the rules of evidence admission were made somewhat more favorable to
prosecutors, Marshall County Prosecuting Attorney Curt Palmer said.

Despite the law's good intentions, it may end up making Palmer's job
harder, he said. Most troubling to Palmer is the added discretion the law
gives to judges in determining sentences for meth crimes.

"We used to be able to get them to plea to anywhere under 20 years because
they knew if they went to trial and lost, they were getting at least 20 years.

"They've taken our hammer away from us."

With Indiana prisons more crowded than ever before, the legislature had to
take some power away from prosecutors, Dvorak said.

"There were real concerns about what we were doing with penalties," he
said. "I know it wasn't a problem with Curt, but some prosecutors were
getting maximum sentences for every single offender."

Some peripheral players, perhaps caught in the wrong place at the wrong
time, were unnecessarily being given lengthy sentences, he said.

"Prosecutors weren't taking the A felonies and negotiating a guilty plea to
a B felony," Dvorak said. "They were forcing them to plea to an A felony.

"All that did was drive up your cost and my cost as taxpayers. We also have
the responsibility of raising your tax dollars to pay for prisons."

That's not to say some offenders don't deserve the most severe penalties
for their crimes, he said.

The new law makes it a far more serious crime to sell or manufacture meth
near schools or some other public buildings.

"Some wanted to dump that school zone," Dvorak said. "We had some real
frank debate about that.

"We believe there may have been some overzealous police officers luring
offenders into a zone to get a stiffer penalty.

"We wanted to prosecute people who were endangering children. It's bad to
be selling drugs. But they should be prosecuted with a greater penalty for
selling to children."

Cook supported the tougher sentences for selling to or near children.

"We want to enhance measures to keep that away from kids," he said. "Even
if it's a daycare facility, they can still be charged.

"If it's in public housing, they're being subsidized by tax dollars. They
should be hit very hard with penalties."

Protecting children turned up as a theme in another portion of the law, too.

"Our biggest concern had to do with children," Dvorak said. "What we've had
is mandatory waiver to adult court.

"A 15- or 16-year-old manufacturing meth is a bad thing. But do we want
that person to go to prison for that long with no chance of parole?

"That's a decision a judge should make."

Judges are best able to determine whether a young person is beyond help and
deserves a more severe sentence, Dvorak said.

"I don't think you're going to see our judges going soft on crime," he said.

(SIDEBAR)

House Bill 1892

The Indiana legislature adopted the law, effective July 1, 2001. It was
designed to stiffen penalties for makers and sellers of crystal
methamphetamine. Some of its highlights included:

NEW PROVISIONS

Storing anhydrous ammonia in a nonapproved container is now a Class A
misdemeanor.

Possessing anhydrous ammonia with the intent to make meth is now a Class D
felony.

Possessing anhydrous ammonia with the intent to make meth within 1,000 feet
of a school, family housing complex, youth program center or public park or
on a school bus is now a Class C felony.

Dumping, transporting or disposing of waste chemicals produced by making
meth is now a Class D felony.

Making meth now qualifies a property as a common nuisance, a Class D felony.

Meth has been added to a number of drug statutes that already applied to
cocaine, making the penalties the same.

POSSESSION OF METH

Standard possession: Class D felony

3 grams or more: Class C felony

with a firearm: Class C felony

within 1,000 feet of a school, family housing complex, youth program center
or public park or on a school bus: Class B felony

3 grams or more within 1,000 feet of such places: Class A felony

MAKING OR DELIVERING METH

Standard making or delivering charge: Class B felony

3 grams or more: Class A felony

within 1,000 feet of a school, family housing complex, youth program center
or public park or on a school bus: Class A felony

Source: Marshall County Prosecuting Attorney's Office