DRUG OFFENDERS EXPECTED TO PAY TAX

Dealing drugs isn't a tax-free business in Daviess County anymore.

A new law that went into effect June 21 is expected to reinforce a
1994 law that has been used sparingly, if at all, in Daviess County.

House Bill 356 allows the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet to issue tax bills
in marijuana and other controlled-substance cases where there has
been a conviction or guilty plea.

Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said the law was changed as a
"constitutional safeguard." Under the old law, a person could be
subject to paying the tax without a conviction for drug possession.

The new law makes commonwealth and county attorneys across the state
responsible for filing tax liens against a person within 72 hours of
a conviction.

Few people know there is a marijuana and controlled substance tax in
Kentucky, Assistant Daviess Commonwealth's Attorney Ken Nall said.
Taxable activity is defined as anyone "producing, cultivating,
manufacturing, importing, transporting, acquiring, purchasing,
storing or selling large quantities of drugs."

To be in compliance with state law, a person has to purchase a tax
stamp for his illegal drugs, a stamp comparable to those purchased by
cigarette and alcohol vendors.

Any personal information submitted to the KRC is not disclosed to law
enforcement agencies, said Carolyn Blankenship, KRC supervisor.

Those required to purchase stamps include anyone with:

- -- More than five marijuana plants with foliage at $1,000 per plant.

- -- At least 42.5 grams of marijuana detached from the plant on which
it grew, $3.50 per gram.

- -- Seven grams of any controlled substance which is not sold by
weight, $200 per gram.

- -- 50 or more dosage units of any controlled substance not sold by
weight, $2,000 per 50 units.

"These won't be filed on all drug cases, because most don't involve
the quantities called upon," Nall said.

Nall filed his first lien against a drug offender June 21 when David
Matthew Starnes, 25, of the 800 block of Cedar Street pleaded guilty
to charges of trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000
yards of a school and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Starnes, who possessed 173.7 grams of marijuana, must pay $600 in
taxes plus interest for the drug, Nall said.

Blankenship said she was unsure how the new law would affect revenues
coming into the revenue cabinet.

During the law's first year, the tax generated $15,987. Last year it
generated $54,687, Blankenship said.

More money is expected to be coming from Daviess County. Officials
from the Owensboro Police Department and Daviess County Sheriff's
Department said they never enforced the old law.