State toxicology lab to be run separately from IU

The State Toxicology Laboratory will be managed independently starting July 1.

The Toxicology Laboratory is currently managed and overseen by the IU School of Medicine. It was created in 1957 and has been managed by IU ever since.  

The Laboratory will now run as a separate, independent agency within the state executive branch. It will have an independent board and its own administration.

The change comes after allegations of inappropriate scientific practices and long wait times for test results, multiple news organizations reported.

A recent audit found that 32 percent of positive cocaine test results were not conducted in a scientifically appropriate manner.

In April, an audit found 10 percent of positive tests for marijuana were inaccurate and that some of these could have unjustly contributed to the conviction of innocent persons.

The laboratory has also never received or sought accreditation from any of the nation’s criminal forensic laboratory accreditation agencies, which monitor laboratories’ practices to ensure minimum operational standards.

State Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, authored the bill that moved the laboratory out of IU’s control. The legislation created a three-member advisory board to be appointed by the governor.

“A memorandum of understanding between the state and Indiana University School of Medicine is being developed to govern the department’s activities,” the  governor’s office said in a statement.

The board will manage the transition until 2012, by which time the transition to a fully independent laboratory is required to be complete.

— Zach Ammerman