The Vanderburgh County Health Department is organizing a meeting among community partners to discuss the merits of a syringe exchange.
The agency declined to specify who has been invited to the Dec.15 discussion. But according to an invitation obtained by the Courier & Press, it will be a time to address “both the pros and cons” of having such a program. The meeting is not open to the public.
“We want to make sure that they feel comfortable putting out their points of view,” health department employee Wallace Corbitt said when about disclosing the invitation list. He classified the meeting as a “fact-finding” session.
For needle-exchange programs to be implemented in Indiana, the public health officer of the county -- Dr. Kenneth Spear, in Vanderburgh County -- has to first declare a public health emergency. Then, the county commissioners would have to ask the state to approve a needle exchange program.
Spear is the one who is putting together the upcoming discussion, according to the invitation.
That invitation for the event lays out four talking points: Why it would be needed; what prevention efforts have already occurred; how to get the community to support a potential effort; and what the next steps would be.
Needle-exchange programs are looked at as a way to help stop the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C as intravenous use of heroin and other opioid drugs increases in Indiana. Meth can also be injected using needles. There are currently eight counties in Indiana where exchange programs have been approved, and the state also has a pending request from Tippecanoe County.
In Vanderburgh County, deaths blamed on heroin overdoses have nearly quadrupled this year from 2015. In previous comments to the Courier & Press, Spear said he has regularly monitored the needle-exchange topic. He seemed receptive to the idea, but expressed concern about implementing one in Vanderburgh County under the current law because it requires the epidemic declaration for either HIV or Hepatitis C.
Spear said in a late-October interview that such a program must have wide community support before it starts. The meeting scheduled next week could be used to measure local sentiment.
“You’ve got to get everybody on board. You’ve got to have the sheriff on board, the prosecutor, the police, the judges ... and that has not always been the case,” Spear said then. “I think there is an increasing tolerance (toward exchanges) recognizing that they’re not promoting drug abuse but (are) trying to break the disease transmission.”