Lawmaker: Panel couldn’t reach consensus on drug legislation

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The leader of a legislative study committee says the panel couldn’t agree on additional measures intended to target the drug problems that spurred lawmakers to approve Indiana’s fledgling needle-exchange program.

Republican Sen. Patricia Miller of Indianapolis said at Tuesday’s final public policy committee meeting that the panel couldn’t reach a consensus on recommending legislation for the General Assembly to consider in its upcoming session.

But Miller says individual lawmakers, including herself, as well as the offices of Gov. Mike Pence and the state attorney general all are drafting legislation targeting Indiana’s drug-abuse problems.

Lawmakers in April approved a law giving Indiana’s health commissioner authority to approve local needle-exchange programs as part of a response to a southern Indiana HIV outbreak linked to intravenous drug use.