28-429. Division of Drug Control; established; personnel; powers and duties; Nebraska State Patrol Drug Control and Education Cash Fund; created; use; investment; report; contents.

(1) There is hereby established in the Nebraska State Patrol a Division of Drug Control. The division shall consist of such personnel as may be designated by the Superintendent of Law Enforcement and Public Safety. It shall be the duty of the division to enforce all of the provisions of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act and any other provisions of the law dealing with controlled substances and to conduct drug education activities as directed by the superintendent. The Nebraska State Patrol shall cooperate with federal agencies, the department, other state agencies, elementary and secondary schools, and County Drug Law Enforcement and Education Fund Boards in discharging their responsibilities concerning traffic in controlled substances, in suppressing the abuse of controlled substances, and in conducting drug education activities. To this end the division is authorized to: (a) Arrange for the exchange of information between governmental officials concerning the use and abuse of controlled substances; (b) coordinate and cooperate in training programs on controlled substance law enforcement and education at the local and state levels; (c) establish a centralized unit which will accept, catalog, file, and collect statistics, including records of drug dependent persons and other controlled substance law offenders within the state, and make such information available for federal, state, and local law enforcement purposes on request; (d) cooperate in locating, eradicating, and destroying wild or illicit growth of plant species from which controlled substances may be extracted, and for these purposes a peace officer is hereby authorized to enter onto property upon which there are no buildings or upon which there are only uninhabited buildings without first obtaining a search warrant or consent; (e) develop a priority program so as to focus the bulk of its efforts on the reduction and elimination of the most damaging drugs including narcotic drugs, depressant and stimulant drugs, and hallucinogenic drugs; and (f) develop and conduct drug education activities in cooperation with elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska and with County Drug Law Enforcement and Education Fund Boards.

(2) There is hereby created the Nebraska State Patrol Drug Control and Education Cash Fund which shall be used for the purposes of (a) obtaining evidence for enforcement of any state law relating to the control of drug abuse and (b) drug education activities conducted pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, except that transfers may be made from the fund to the General Fund at the direction of the Legislature. Any money in the Nebraska State Patrol Drug Control and Education Cash Fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.

(3) For the purpose of establishing and maintaining legislative oversight and accountability, the Appropriations Committee of the Legislature shall formulate record-keeping procedures to be adhered to by the Nebraska State Patrol for all expenditures, disbursements, and transfers of cash from the Nebraska State Patrol Drug Control and Education Cash Fund. Based on these record-keeping procedures, the Nebraska State Patrol shall prepare and electronically deliver to the Clerk of the Legislature at the commencement of each succeeding session a detailed report which shall contain, but not be limited to: (a) Current total in the cash fund; (b) total amount of expenditures; (c) purpose of the expenditures to include: (i) Salaries and any expenses of all agents and informants; (ii) front money for drug purchases; (iii) names of drugs and quantity of purchases; (iv) amount of front money recovered; and (v) drug education activities; (d) total number of informers on payroll; (e) amounts delivered to patrol supervisors for distribution to agents and informants and the method of accounting for such transactions and the results procured through such transactions; and (f) a description of the drug education activities conducted since the date of the previous report. Each member of the Legislature shall receive an electronic copy of such report by making a request for it to the superintendent.

(4) The superintendent shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to carry out this section.

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This section permits law enforcement officers to enter onto property without a search warrant or consent for the purpose of locating and eradicating wild or illicit weeds from which a controlled substance could be extracted. State v. Havlat, 222 Neb. 554, 385 N.W.2d 436 (1986).