The sad reality is communities must use all of the tools at their disposal to deal with the ills caused by drug abuse. It’s also a sad reality that Indiana represents a “new generation” in that regard.
Many of those tools — from education in schools to the DARE program offered through police agencies to counseling to jail time — quickly spring to mind. This year, thanks in part to the Indiana Legislature, we’re learning about another one: needle exchange programs.
Needle exchanges provide IV drug users with clean needles. The goal is to prevent people from sharing needles, because that can spread diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.
Lawrence County health officials say they have not seen a rise in such diseases here. Still, for communities like ours, which has seen a rise in heroin use, the threat of such diseases is all too real.
The Indianapolis Star was on hand Monday when Beth Meyerson, co-director of Indiana University’s Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention, testified before the Interim Study Committee on Public Health. Crucially, Meyerson told the panel that Indiana’s needle-exchange programs are a little different from others in the United States. Indiana’s programs are in rural, not urban, areas.
“They represent a new generation of syringe exchange,” she said.
We’re not happy about that distinction. But we are comforted, somewhat, that Meyerson recognizes it.
Indiana’s crisis started in Scott County. It’s the center of an outbreak that has seen more than 170 HIV cases since January, mostly in the small town of Austin. In a typical year, Scott County would see only about five new HIV cases.
Indiana’s health commissioner also has approved needle-exchanges — allowed under a new state law — for Madison and Fayette counties.
Fifteen other counties have been moving toward potentially implementing needle exchange programs, according to The Star report. Clark County officials have endorsed a needle exchange but have not received state approval to implement it. Monroe County is exploring the idea.
It’s too soon to measure the success of the programs in Scott, Madison and Fayette counties, said Joey Fox, legislative director of the Indiana State Department of Health. It will be worth monitoring those counties to determine what has worked and what has failed.
But the main lesson to draw from Monday’s meeting is that all counties are under a threat.
Kellie Kelley, a spokeswoman for the Madison County Health Department, said the situation there is not unlike the one in Scott County.
“All of our counties, I believe, have an Austin, Indiana, in them,” she said.
That sobering thought is ample evidence that we need to use all of our tools to fight the ills caused by drug abuse.