Madison County approves extension for needle exchange program

The Madison County commissioners have voted in favor of extending the county’s needle exchange program for another two years. As IPR’s Thomas Ouellette reports, the program may be cut before 2027, if state lawmakers vote to end it early.

Julie Foltz is Director of Infectious Disease Services at Aspire Indiana Health, which runs the Madison County needle exchange program.  She says it’s had a positive impact on the community.

“In 2024 we served just over 700 individuals,” she said.

In addition to county approval, the needle exchange programs that began in the wake of the 2015 Scott County HIV epidemic need approval from the state as well.  If the state doesn’t do that, programs will end July 1, 2026. 

Madison County is one of eight approved counties.  It began an exchange in 2015 as the second county after Scott County, then shut down once in 2017 over resident fears.  Scott County closed its needle exchange program in 2022.

Fultz told commissioners there is a still a lot of misinformation surrounding the purpose of the program.  She says its main goal is to prevent diseases spread through the use of dirty needles.

“It’s much, much more than just the distribution of sterile syringes to people who use drugs,” Fultz said. “That’s just the tiniest piece of what we do in the program.”

According to data from the Indiana Department of Health, more than 22,000 people across the state have participated in an exchange program since 2015.  In addition to clean needles, syringe exchange centers also give access to tests for hepatitis and HIV and referrals to substance abuse counseling and housing services. 

One commissioner voted “no” on continuing the program.  Rick Gardner said he couldn’t support it after hearing of cases of children and other citizens being pierced by discarded needles.

The Indiana Department of Health did not respond to questions about the state’s current stance on needle exchange programs.

Thomas Ouellette is our reporter and producer.  Contact him at [email protected]