INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush has told a joint session of the Legislature that Indiana's drug crisis is flooding its courts with a growing number of cases.
Rush told lawmakers during her State of the Judiciary address Wednesday that the court's five members heard firsthand about Indiana's drug abuse woes during visits last year with trial court judges in all 92 Indiana counties. Heroin and methamphetamine accounted for many of those cases.
The chief justice said one judge said he sees heroin cases in his court daily, but as a prosecutor he handled only 20 over two decades.
Rush said Indiana saw a 30 percent increase last year in children entering its welfare system. She says parental substance abuse was the chief cause in those situations.
