By Rachel Hoffmeyer
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Pence has signed into law seven bills designed to punish drug dealers as well as treat and prevent addictions.
“Sometimes people ask me what keeps me up at night and I say without hesitation—as much as a dad, as a governor—it is the scourge of drug abuse and addiction in the state of Indiana that has impacted every community in the state,” said Pence.
The governor signed four of the bills during a ceremony Monday at Hope Academy in Indianapolis, a tuition-free charter high school for students in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions.
Among those in the crowd as Pence put pen to paper was Justin Phillips, a mother who believes she could’ve saved her son’s life if a heroin antidote had been available to her at the time of his death.
Her 20-year-old son, Aaron, died in 2013 from a heroin overdose. After his death, she learned about Naloxone— an intervention drug, sometimes called Narcan, that reverses heroin overdose effects.
Phillips talked with her neighbor, Sen. Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis, who knew Aaron and together they helped create Aaron’s Law last year. The law allows anyone to get Naloxone with a prescription. This year, they worked to make the antidote over-the-counter.
“Aaron’s Law in it’s original state allowed for you and I to have naloxone in our home through a third party prescription,” said Justin Phillips. “This amendment eliminates the prescription and just eliminates that additional barrier to accessing the drug.”
Pence said tackling Indiana’s drug abuse problem takes a three pronged approach.
“One of the things that we recognize is—we cannot just arrest our way out of this problem,” he said. “So today we’ll also be signing measures into law that will make life saving medicines more available and expand opportunities for treatment in the state of Indiana.”
Three additional bills, aimed specifically at meth, were signed by Pence in his office.
“Drug abuse problems are not unique or limited to the state of Indiana, but they are a focal point,” said Pence.
Signed into law at Hope Academy
HB 1235 prevents anyone convicted of repeated, drug dealing felonies from receiving a suspended sentence if the offense involves meth or heroin and the person has a previous felony conviction for dealing cocaine, heroin or meth.
SB 187 expands Aaron’s Law to allow over-the-counter sales of Naloxone, sometimes referred to as Narcan. The drug is used to reverse narcotic overdoses. Current law requires a doctor to write a prescription.
SB 271 creates a commission to coordinate substance abuse prevention, treatment and enforcement across the state. The Indiana Commission to Combat Drug Abuse goes into effect on January 1, 2017.
SB 297 requires Medicaid coverage for inpatient detoxification for opioid or alcohol treatments. The law also expands the Medicaid criteria used to determine medical necessity for detox.
Signed into law in the governor’s office
SB 80 allows a pharmacist to deny sales of certain cold medicines that can be used to make meth. The law provides civil immunity to pharmacists making the decision.
SB 161 and HB 1157 require certain meth-related felonies to be reported to the National Precursor Log Exchange, known as NPLEx. The NPLEx database creates a block list to prevent sales of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to individuals convicted of a meth-related felony.
Rachel Hoffmeyer is the executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
