The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard SB 37, Sen. Bray’s bill to amend the possession of paraphernalia statute by removing possession of “raw material” as a basis for liability. Several amendments to the bill were presented by Sen. Bray and adopted by consent: (1) “rolling paper” was defined and removed from the paraphernalia definition; (2) the I.C. 35-48-4-3 Class A infraction for possession of paraphernalia without any “knowingly” or “intentionally” requirement was deleted from the statute, so that after the amendment the statute would contain only the Class A misdemeanor of “knowingly” or “intentionally” possessing paraphernalia; and (3) I.C. 16-42-19-18 in the Legend Drug Act was amended to make it a first-offense Level 6 felony, and a second-offense Level 5 felony for a person with intent to violate the Legend Drug chapter or to commit a drug offense in I.C. 35-48-4, to possess a syringe adapted to use either a controlled substance or a legend drug.
Sen. Bray said the syringe amendment was prompted by the Dec. 9, 2014 Court of Appeals decision Bookwalter v. State (holding that possession of a syringe intended to inject heroin was not a violation of the Legend Drug Act syringe offense, because heroin is not a legend drug). A representative from the Public Defendesr Council testified in support of the bill, and a representative of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council testified that the Council was neutral on the first two amendments, but was in favor of the third amendment about syringes. The bill passed as amended 9-0.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/37.