ANDERSON, Ind. —
A Middletown woman’s death was not caused by synthetic marijuana, despite widespread media accounts and subsequent efforts by local and state government officials to ban the widely available products referred to as Spice or K2.
“It is not the cause of death,” Madison County Coroner Ned Dunnichay said Tuesday after receiving toxicology results from the autopsy of Lilly Helsley, 29, of Middletown.
Dunnichay said Helsley died from an accidental overdose he termed “mixed drug intoxication.” He classified the drugs found in her system that were responsible for her death as prescription depressants.
Helsley died at Saint John’s Medical Center on July 30, and people who knew her said her death occurred after she smoked Spice.
Some Indianapolis media accounts were quick to point to the products as culprits in Helsley’s death. One headline on an Indianapolis television website reads: “Mother dies after smoking Spice.”
“I just wish they would have waited and gotten the final cause of death from our office before they speculated,” Dunnichay said.
Products such as Spice still pose a danger, Dunnichay said. “It ought to be regulated somehow,” he said. The products are legal in most states and localities and are not regulated by agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration.
Since Helsley’s death, at least three Indiana counties — including Helsley’s home of Henry County on Aug. 27 — have banned the sale of such substances. The products are sold locally in smoke shops and in some convenience stores, and typically marketed as incense. At least eight states have banned sale of the products.
Less than two weeks after Helsley’s death, state Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said he planned to pursue state laws against Spice and similar products, and he would request a study of the topic by the General Assembly’s Commission on the Courts.
“Whether or not it is considered in summer study, I intend on proposing legislation to control the substance in order to prevent further tragedies similar to the incident in Middletown,” Lanane in a statement on Aug. 12.
On Tuesday, he said the Commission on the Courts is scheduled to discuss Spice during a meeting on Sept. 23.
“It should be subject to some sort of control by the state,” Lanane said of Spice and similar products. “We’re mostly just interested in knowing more about the substance itself.”
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
Local Business
Middletown woman’s death not from Spice
Coroner: Overdose is to blame, but not synthetic marijuana
- Local Business
-
-
First Merchants takes over Shelby County Bank
First Merchants Bank, which has eight branches in Madison County and is based in Muncie, has reached an agreement with the FDIC to take over Shelby County Bank.
-
Wall Street atmosphere alive at AU
Surrounded by a stock market ticker and television screens showing the latest stock prices and world financial news, Federico Boscaini purchased 230 shares of Chevron stock for more than $24,000. He did it in a financial stock trading room at Anderson University — and with university funds.
-
Volunteers needed for Daffodil Days benefit
The American Cancer Society is looking for individuals, businesses and organizations to help with its upcoming Daffodil Days program.
-
Susan Miller: Minds made better thanks to lists
Not all lists are created equal. Indeed, there is an art and a science to list crafting.
-
Gunman robs Old National Bank
A gunman escaped with money from a southside Anderson bank Tuesday afternoon.
-
Emmett Dulaney: The tragedy of the insurance commons
In basic economics, students often hear of the concept of “the tragedy of the commons.” In overly simplistic terms, this is a situation in which many individuals share a limited resource.
-
Report: Hoosier Park leaves economic mark on county
Tourism has become big business in Madison County and Hoosier Park Racing & Casino is the star attraction, concludes a recent report from the Anderson/Madison County Visitors & Convention Bureau.
-
Call answered decades later
Ron Cross' family and friends thought he was crazy for quitting a well-established career, but Cross thought there was something better out there for him. And he wanted to set a good example for his children — now 17 and 24 — by going to college.
-
Gerry Dick Business Briefs: Feb. 5
A compilation of business news items of local and statewide interest, provided by writer Gerry Dick.
-
'Big Joe' Clark: Housing market yet to bottom out
As housing prices slow their massive drop from the highs we saw in 2006, economists and market analysts alike want to have their voices heard when they call for a bottom in the housing market. It just isn’t time yet.
- More Local Business Headlines
-
First Merchants takes over Shelby County Bank
