Needle Exchange Programs Could End Summer 2021 After Bill Dies

Needle exchange programs in eight Indiana counties could be discontinued as early as the summer 2021.

The exchanges began after a 2015 Scott County HIV epidemic, when state officials made them legal for the first time.  The order gave them an expiration date.  This session, a Senate bill proposed lifting the expiration date.  But it died on the floor this week.

Bill author Republican Senator Jim Merritt says he still wants to find a way to extend those services.

“There are House bills and possibly Senate bills that are going over the House of Representatives that we might be able to mend the language into,” Merritt says.

He says adding language onto another bill could extend the life of needle exchanges an extra year, giving him more time to get a bill passed that would lift the expiration date on the program all together.

According to the Centers for Disease Control using sterile needles reduces the risk of getting and transmitting an infection and helps prevent outbreaks.

Read More: Residents’ Fears Drive First Closure of An Indiana Needle Exchange

During floor discussion on the bill, Democratic Senator Jean Breaux spoke about the need for more information on the success of needle exchange.

“To stop doing the program now, would seriously in my opinion, curtail the opportunity to get the information we need to determine whether or not this is a successful program,” she says. “To cut it off midstream will defeat the whole purpose of why we instituted its program to begin with.”