3-PRONGED INITIATIVE TO TARGET METH

Daniels' Plan Includes Reducing The Backlog Of Cases At State Police Lab By
Using State Colleges

Gov. Mitch Daniels on Tuesday unveiled three more initiatives to
fight the scourge of methamphetamine, proposing that various state
agencies join forces to address the problem without spending more money.

Key changes center on addressing the backlog of drug cases at the
State Police crime lab and establishing rules to protect children
found living in homes where meth labs are found.

The initiatives come on the heels of Monday's creation of a meth
treatment center inside a state prison near Peru. The steps should be
seen as a sign, the governor said, that he was serious about battling
the drug problem.

"There is no way to overstate the damage this drug is doing," Daniels
said. "And as far as I am concerned, there is no way to overreact.
There is no step too strong to take in combating it."

Daniels also voiced strong support for an anti-meth bill that would
put most cold medicines behind the counter at pharmacies and grocery
stores. The drugs are primary ingredients in making meth.

Senate Bill 444 -- making ephedrine and pseudoephedrine Schedule V
controlled substances with limited public access -- has made its way
through the House and Senate and is awaiting signatures by the leaders
of both chambers before going to the governor for his signature.

If it becomes law, Hoosiers will be asked to show a photo ID to buy
common cold medicines, such as Sudafed.

"It will pose some inconvenience, I know, but the states that have
taken the strongest measures have seen a real reduction in the number
of labs," Daniels said. "Lives are at stake."

During a news conference at the Statehouse, Daniels was surrounded by
representatives from law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

Knox County Sheriff Steve Luce, whose southwest Indiana county has
been a hot spot for meth activity in recent years, said he was glad to
see the problem garner statewide attention.

"This is a priority," Luce said. "It's ruined a lot of lives, and we
have to work on it. It's a community problem and a state problem."

Indiana State Police last year busted the fourth-largest number of
meth labs in America, according to national figures. But while finding
and destroying labs have become routine in Knox, Vigo, Putnam and many
other rural counties, dealing with the aftermath has been
frustrating.

The State Police crime lab has a backlog of 7,500 cases, many of them
meth-related, according to Eric Lawrence, the state's director of
forensic analysis. Adding college student interns will help speed up
the processing of meth cases.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will be leading the
new crime-lab partnership in conjunction with Franklin College,
Indiana State and Ball State universities, and six other schools
expected to participate in the future, Daniels said.

New crime lab being built

A new state crime lab is under construction on West 16th Street, which
will increase the lab space to 70,000 square feet from 10,000 square
feet, enabling more staff and space for training new lab
technicians.

Carl Cowen, dean of the IUPUI School of Science, said the university
would be starting its new forensic sciences program this fall under
the coordination of Dr. Jay Siegel, a nationally renowned forensic
expert who was lured to IUPUI from Michigan State University. Students
and faculty members will be working on basic drug cases to free up
State Police experts to concentrate on the meth cases.

Working with meth in the lab is very difficult and time-consuming,
according to Lawrence, unlike cocaine, heroin or marijuana, which
typically involve a very basic and quick analysis.

"(Meth samples) are nasty, dirty, hard-to-work-with samples," he said.
"When you do a meth lab, you have all these jars with all these
sludges and liquids. You gotta do chemical extraction, pH changes,
purification."

Kids living in meth homes

Another aspect of Tuesday's announcement concerned children who are
found to be living in homes where drug labs are discovered. The state
has no uniform policy on how to handle such cases. But that will
change under the initiative, which calls for standardizing procedures.

Daniels said an alarming number of foster care cases -- as many as 40
percent in some areas -- involve children taken from meth houses.

James Payne, director of the Department of Child Services, will be
charged with establishing the new procedures. Payne said the primary
concern in meth cases was the high toxicity of the chemicals used to
make the drug.

Potential new policies might include a rule that would prevent
children from taking items -- from teddy bears to clothing -- out of a
home where meth is being made because they could be contaminated;
requiring medical tests on children to determine whether their blood
system has been affected by meth; and, if a house is shown to be very
toxic, preventing the future return of those children to that house.

Daniels said the changes announced Monday and Tuesday should begin to
show results in the coming months but will come from existing funds.

"This is an extraordinary problem," he said. "By some measures,
Indiana is now one of the three or four worst-hit states in America.
But we're not going to stay there. We are fighting back."

The highlights of meth package

Gov. Daniels announced three initiatives Tuesday to battle meth in
Indiana. They are:

. Using a partnership with Indiana's colleges and universities to help
reduce the backlog of drug cases at State Police drug-testing
laboratories while preparing Indiana students in the forensic science
field.

. Developing a "real time" reporting database between prosecutors and
drug-testing labs to ensure dismissed criminal cases no longer clog the
lab.

. Standardizing procedures for removing and protecting children exposed
to meth production.