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Indy Councilman Bids For State Senate On Drug Policy Platform

Jack Sandlin
/
http://www.jacksandlin.net/

An Indianapolis city-county councilor is the first entry into the race for an open state Senate seat.

Republican Jack Sandlin is emphasizing his two decades with the Indianapolis Police Department, including a stint as deputy chief. He says he can bring an important perspective to debates over how to control spiraling meth and heroin traffic.

Sandlin says the state needs to go after heroin suppliers while making it easier for users to get treatment. He says the latter has too often been neglected.

“People that find themselves with an addiction are not finding the services that they need to move away from that addiction. I’d suggest that they’re replacing one drug with another,” Sandlin says.

And Sandlin says effective law enforcement is critical to the state's economic development efforts. He says people will relocate if they don't feel safe in their hometowns.

Sandlin says he'd oppose recurring proposals in the legislature to require prescriptions for over-the-counter cold remedies used as ingredients in methamphetamine. Instead, he says the state needs to push pharmacies to promptly enter purchases of those medications in a statewide database, so meth cooks can't hop from store to store to gather enough inventory.

Sandlin says his police background gives him knowledge most legislators don’t have.

“There’s a huge discussion about body-worn cameras right now,” Sandlin says. “The two issues that we need to think about solving: one is the cost initially, but also the cost of storage and then what your release policy’s going to be.”

Sandlin is unopposed for reelection to his council seat. He says he was approached about the Senate race after Sen. Brent Waltz (R-Greenwood) announced he'd pass up another term to run for Congress.

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