INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Legislature is poised to allow anyone to purchase and use a cannabis-derived extract believed to have therapeutic benefits, following a key vote by the state Senate on Monday. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from marijuana and hemp, though the substance, typically sold as an oil, lacks enough of the main psychoactive component THC to get high. Lawmakers approved a law last year allowing those with severe forms of epilepsy to purchase and possess CBD. But the law conflicted with an earlier industrial hemp law approved by the Legislature, and no sooner had it gone into effect than state excise police cracked down on the sale of CBD. [continues 291 words]
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana House has passed a resolution calling for a study of the benefits of medical marijuana. The resolution was approved Thursday without opposition and comes as 29 other states have passed laws allowing medical marijuana in some form. Republican majority leader Matt Lehman of Berne says it's time for a legislative study committee to conduct its own research. The measure is backed by Rep. Jim Lucas, a Libertarian-leaning Republican from Seymour is an outspoken advocate for legalizing medical marijuana. [continues 53 words]
An Indiana high school teacher was arrested on drug charges Wednesday after her students said they saw her using cocaine in her classroom. Lake Central High School junior Will Rogers told WGN9 he shot video of the incident through a classroom window. "She's in the corner, hiding with a chair and a book and what appears to be cocaine, putting it into lines," Rogers told the TV station. "When I actually watched the footage again and again and I just realized that my english teacher just did cocaine." [continues 117 words]
An Indiana court has overturned a man's felony drug convictions because of a SWAT team's "unreasonable" search that endangered an infant, a decision that highlights growing concerns about the militarization of routine police work. The SWAT team executed a "military-style assault" and detonated a flash-bank grenade in close proximity to a 9-month-old after a confidential informant told detectives that he had seen marijuana, cocaine and a firearm in the home, according to the Indiana Court of Appeals' enumeration of the facts of the case. [continues 1243 words]