The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld felony charges related to the 2012 arrest and charging of a retail store owner accused of selling synthetic drugs. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said the decision was important in the ability to control dangerous and constantly evolving synthetic drugs such as “spice” and “bath salts.”
In October 2012, Christopher Tiplick was charged with multiple counts of Conspiracy to Commit Dealing in a Look-Alike Substance, Dealing in a Look-Alike Substance, and Dealing in a Synthetic Drug. The latter charges were founded upon Indiana’s then newly enacted synthetic drug statute, including provisions that allowed the Indiana Pharmacy Board to further define illegal synthetic drugs by emergency order.
“As we stated when these charges were filed, a significant challenge in prosecuting those who deal in synthetic drugs is that the chemical composition of these dangerous substances is constantly evolving in order to avoid the current statutory definition,” Prosecutor Curry stated. “As a consequence, we had filed these charges by taking an aggressive interpretation of existing criminal statutes, and the Supreme Court decision has vindicated our position.”
Tiplick had filed a motion to dismiss all charges, challenging the constitutionality of synthetic drug and look-alike statutes, including arguing that the Pharmacy Board could not declare new synthetic drugs illegal by way of emergency rule. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, but the Indiana Court of Appeals held that the Pharmacy Board did not have authority to define criminal provisions.
Upon further appeal, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld both the look-alike statute and the emergency rule-making of the Pharmacy Board. While the Supreme Court held that the synthetic drug charges here were defective by failing to reference the specific Pharmacy Board rule, the Court further stated that such technical defect can by corrected by a motion to amend the pending charges, which will be done in the trial court.
“After the new law was approved in 2012, we put retailers on notice that we would prosecute if they sold any synthetic drug such as spice or bath salts,” said Curry.
In early September 2012, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office authored letters that were hand delivered by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers to put retailers on notice that the sale of synthetic drugs and look-alike substances would be prosecuted. The store owners were given one week to remove these items from their shelves.
After undercover purchases of spice were made from three Smoke Shop locations owned by Tiplick, IMPD executed search warrants resulting in the seizure of more than 1,000 individual packages of alleged synthetic drugs with a retail value of $25 per packet.
