GOVERNOR TRUMPETS METH WAR STRATEGIES

INDIANAPOLIS - Saying methamphetamine abuse "has no boundaries," Gov. Mitch
Daniels on Tuesday announced initiatives designed to give state police more
time to fight the drug's spread and help caseworkers better protect
children living in its midst.

Daniels also called on lawmakers to pass legislation that would make buying
certain meth ingredients more difficult.

"Lives are at stake. Children's lives are at stake," Daniels said at a
Statehouse news conference. "In that situation, you don't compromise."

Daniels said the state will begin a pilot program with several colleges and
universities designed to ease a backlog of drug cases at state police
laboratories in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Lowell and Evansville. Students
will serve as interns at the labs and handle basic drug cases to free state
police to focus their attention on meth cases.

The governor said the state also will work to establish a database that
enables prosecutors to notify the labs when a case is no longer going to
trial, freeing up workers to focus on relevant cases.

Daniels also announced that Jim Payne, director of the Department of Child
Services, will begin developing procedures for rescuing and protecting
children exposed to meth production.

Payne said caseloads involving children are often directly related to meth,
but the state has no coordinated way to care for those children.

He said some children need to be tested for medical problems from exposure
to the drug. Others can't take toys or teddy bears with them when they are
removed from their homes because they have been tainted by fumes from meth
production.

"It is so toxic," Payne said.

Law enforcement officials attending the news conference supported the
efforts and hailed legislation that would require medicines containing
ephedrine, an ingredient used to make meth, to be placed behind a pharmacy
counter. People buying the cold medicine would have to show identification
before making the purchase if the bill becomes law.

Knox County Sheriff Steve Luce said that step could help reduce the number
of meth labs in Indiana.

State police discovered 51 meth labs in the southwestern Indiana county
from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2004. That number does not include labs found by
local law enforcement.

"It's ruined a lot of lives," Luce said of the drug.