Indiana Supreme Court to reconsider synthetic drug ban
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The Indiana Supreme Court will consider state appeals to reinstate a synthetic drug ban, at the encouragement of Indiana’s Attorney General.
Indiana’s synthetic drug ban was ruled as unconstitutional on Jan. 27 by the Indiana Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals declared that the synthetic substances on the list were too difficult to pinpoint in many instances.
The statute list includes more than 80 chemical compounds, along with look-alike substances and synthetic drugs listed by the Board of Pharmacy. The synthetic drugs listed by the Board of Pharmacy is the portion of the list that is the subject of the recent appeals, which were filed by the State of Indiana on Feb. 26.
The Court of Appeals acknowledged their belief that the entire list was not unconstitutional, yet specified that the list from the Board of Pharmacy should be easier to find within the drugs.
Indiana’s Attorney General Greg Zoeller encouraged the Supreme Court to reconsider the ban, stating, “The statute is designed to be flexible and allow the Board of Pharmacy to update the banned synthetics list because the man-made nature of these drugs allows manufacturers to come up with endless new versions of these deadly products,”
Zoeller has been a major activist in banning synthetic drugs. He recently joined with 42 other state attorneys general in an effort to deter oil companies from selling synthetic drugs at their retail locations.
To read more about Zoeller’s synthetic drug efforts, click here.