Law would send pot dealers to death row
by Steve Hinnefield

State Rep. Brent Steele said he would introduce legislation allowing the
death penalty for people who sell large quantities of illegal drugs,
including marijuana.

He said the approach may seem extreme, but it's needed to stem what he
sees as a growing druguse problem.

"It's a cancer to our society," Steele said. "These people, they don't
care who they addict or how old they are.

"And they're killing our kids by degrees, just the same as if they were
slicing their throat and draining the blood out of their neck. There's
no difference, in my opinion."

The Bedford Republican will also propose making it illegal to posses
certain chemicals used to make methicathinone, or "cat."

He said Lawrence County has become "the No. 1 county in the state for
the manufacture of this terribly harmful and addictive drug." County
residents are demanding something be done to protect their children, he
said.

Steele's district includes eastern Monroe County, western Brown County
and parts of Lawrence, Jackson and Washington counties.

He said he wants to provide the death penalty or life in prison without
parole for people who possess large enough quantities of Schedule I or
II drugs to be classified as dealers. He hasn't determined what that
quantity would be.

Schedule I and II drugs include hundreds of substances marijuana among
them deemed to have a "high potential for abuse."

Bloomington resident Paul Hager, a founder of the Hoosier Cannabis
Relegalization Coalition and a Libertarian candidate for Congress, said the
idea of executing drug dealers is absurd.

"There's a lot of hysteria," he said. "I don't know whether Mr. Steele
is himself caught up in the hysteria or just taking advantage of it."

Hager said Steele's approach would violate the US Constitution's ban on
cruel and unusual punishment. And even if it didn't, he said, it's a
counterproductive idea.

"It's absurd on its face," he said. "It's a penalty far beyond the
nature of the offense."

Steele expects to face plenty of opposition, and not just from people
who believe marijuana should be legal. "I know I'll catch a ton of grief
on this," he said.

It took him three years to change the state law to allow the death
penalty for torturing, burning, mutilating or disfiguring someone while
committing murder.

"The Legislature is an animal that has to be introduced to a concept,
get used to it, study it and eventually kill it or give birth to it,"
Steele said. "We're going to do one or the other."

He has higher hopes for his methicathinone legislation, which would ban
possession of more than one ounce of the medications ephedrine or
pseudoephidrine in combination with certain other chemicals used to make
the illegal drug.

"I'm going to target the components and try to put a stop to it, or slow
it down," he said.

Steele said he's announcing his plans now more than three months
before the next legislative session starts because of concerns
expressed at Indiana State Police forums about the use of the drug cat
in Lawrence County.

Police believe the Bedford area is a hotbed for use of methicathinone,
with as many as 14 suspected cat labs in operation recently, Steele
said. They believe several area residents have died from complications
related to its use.

"I wanted the people to know we are working on it," Steele said. "They
expected answers pretty quick. They were pretty desperate and I don't
blame them."