WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:12 — 8.4MB)
During the past two legislative sessions, Indiana Senator Jim Merritt has helped pass laws aimed at synthetic drugs. And both times, drug manufacturers quickly found ways around the new rules. Now Merritt is back at it again, this time with a much broader law that would make it illegal for consumers to buy any substances they believe are synthetic drugs. The substances are often called bath salts, even though they bear no resemblance to traditional bath salts. Producers of the drug label them as bath salts — or as spice, or any number of other code names — and they are sold at head shops and other retail outlets throughout the state. The federal government has banned some of the compounds found in synthetic drugs, but not all. For today’s WFHB feature exclusive, Assistant News Director Joe Crawford talked with Merritt about the new bill, and about an emerging black market for synthetic drugs.
