Mike Young

State lawmakers are arguing over labeling and testing requirements for cannabidiol, or CBD, manufacturers in the final days of the 2018 session.

The Senate this session put certain labeling and testing requirements into CBD legislation. That includes a provision to require all manufacturers to submit their CBD oil to an independent lab for inspection.

Rep. Tom Washburne (R-Inglefield) says his chamber wants to minimize such requirements.

Legislation approved by the Senate Tuesday creates a new crime to charge drug dealers with higher penalties if the person they deliver those drugs to overdoses and dies. But some lawmakers worry the measure will ensnare otherwise innocent people.

Indiana judges will no longer be able to reduce sentences for serious heroin or meth dealers.  The General Assembly made this change in the law this past session -- but some lawmakers say the change begins to unravel the recent overhaul of Indiana’s criminal code.

Advocates on either side of the religious liberty/LGBT rights debate at the Statehouse say they’re not surprised a bill aiming to rewrite last year’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act died Wednesday without even receiving a vote. 

The proposed bill would’ve labeled certain constitutional rights – including freedoms of religion, speech, thought, and assembly – as “fundamental” and required judges to give deference to them. 

LGBT rights group Freedom Indiana opposed the bill, arguing it threatened to promote discrimination against the LGBT community. 

A proposal to make some cold remedies prescription-only is taking a back seat, with a Senate committee instead endorsing a pair of less stringent alternatives.

Senators voted to ban drug offenders from buying medication with pseudoephedrine, and to require pharmacists to question purchasers in a way that satisfies pharmacists the drugs won’t later become meth.

Fulton County pharmacists have taken that step on their own.

The Senate has snuffed out another attempt to open the door to medical marijuana in Indiana.

Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage) has authored bills in past years to decriminalize pot or allow medical marijuana use.

This time, she tried instead to allow people with valid prescriptions from other states to use that as a defense against a possession charge.

Tallian says legislators have created a catch-22 on medical marijuana.

As legislators ponder adding civil rights protections for gays and lesbians, they'll also revisit the religious-freedom law which sparked the whole debate.

Senators will consider a bill repealing RFRA and replacing it with a new version.

Indianapolis Republican Mike Young says it broadens the focus from freedom of religion to all First Amendment rights and the right to bear arms, classifying those freedoms as "fundamental rights."

Young argues the bill should address objections about how RFRA was drafted.

Senate Republicans will push this session to make it easier for prosecutors to try to convict people as drug dealers. 

Indiana’s recent criminal code reform required prosecutors to have evidence besides just the weight of a drug to prove someone was dealing drugs – for instance, scales and plastic baggies. 

Senator Mike Young (R-Speedway) wants to eliminate that extra requirement if a person is caught with at least thirty pounds of marijuana or ten grams of other drugs. 

Young notes those amounts are just a starting point and could change.