Kansas Drug Laws
Kansas state senator tries to link keg registration with "date rape" drug bill - Brief Article Associated Press--A proposal to require liquor stores to track who buys beer kegs resurfaced and sank last week in the Kansas Senate.
The Senate passed the proposal two weeks ago, but a House committee tabled it last week--most likely preventing it from passing this year.
Sen. Jim Barnett, its main sponsor, tried unsuccessfully to revive the issue.
Barnett, R-Emporia, offered the beer keg proposal as an amendment to a House bill to make it illegal to administer the ingredients of the drug gamma hydroxybutyric acid without a prescription. The drug is known as the "date rape" drug, and its use without a prescription is illegal, but not the use of its separate ingredients.
Senate Democrats questioned whether Barnett's amendment was relevant to the bill. Barnett, a physician, insisted that it was. The Kansas Constitution says any bill must have only one subject. "The oldest date rape drug around is alcohol," Barnett said.
His amendment would have required retailers to record a keg purchaser's name and address before giving them a tagged keg, making it easier for police to track a keg back to its buyer--and to apprehend adults who provide alcohol to minors. Presiding Sen. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, ruled the amendment was in order.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley challenged Jenkins' ruling. "I didn't hear the question of date rape come up when we debated keg registration," said Hensley, D-Topeka.
The Senate voted 18-17 to overturn Jenkins' ruling, a vote that made Barnett's amendment out of order.
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COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group
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