SCOTTSBURG, Ind. — Health leaders are decrying the vote to end a southern Indiana’s needle exchange program that was started to stem the state’s worst-ever HIV outbreak driven by intravenous drug abuse.
Dozens of program supporters packed a meeting where the Scott County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday evening to end the exchange by the end of this year.
Scott County’s needle exchange began in 2015 after then-Gov. Mike Pence authorized the state’s first-ever effort to provide drug addicts with clean needles as an HIV outbreak centered on the rural county eventually grew to about 235 people. Health officials credit it with helping drive down the county’s number of new HIV infections to fewer than five during 2020.
But County Commissioner Mike Jones said the program could be contributing to drug abuse, citing 74 overdose deaths in the county since 2017.
Dr. Jerome Adams, who was Indiana’s health commissioner during the HIV outbreak and then U.S. surgeon general under President Donald Trump, wrote on Twitter that he was “heartbroken” by the decision.
“I’ve shared toil and tears with the many harm reduction advocates in this community,” Adams wrote. “We’ve got to keep working to win over hearts and minds.”
