Compromise is at the heart of the debate around Indiana’s syringe exchange programs.
The Indiana General Assembly is considering a bill that would keep syringe exchanges legal. If the bill fails, six existing programs would have to sundown by July. Today, these anonymous programs accept used needles and distribute sterile supplies.
Despite pleas from health professionals, former addicts and staff involved with Indiana’s syringe programs, a new amendment could require identification and one-to-one exchanges. That amendment was added by the House public health committee Tuesday. The amendment passed 8-5.
Committee president Brad Barrett (R-Richmond) said some counties have discontinued syringe programs, including his own Wayne County. He said it is time to be realistic, not idealistic.
“I think the enemy of good is better,” Barrett said. “The enemy of idealism is the loss of a syringe program.”
The committee also changed the duration of the bill. Instead of allowing syringe exchanges for 10 more years, the programs would renew for two years.
Some committee members, such as Rep. Robin Shackleford, disagreed. Shackleford, a Democrat from Indianapolis, said requiring IDs and one-to-one syringe exchanges will negatively affect the integrity of these programs.
“There is no logical reason why we are putting in one-to-one and ID requirements,” Shackleford said. “If we want a true compromise on the needle exchange, then let's compromise on the time.”
Indiana allowed syringe exchanges in 2015, after more than 230 people became infected with HIV.
Like other hearings on the bill, testimony and discussion on Tuesday became emotional. Committee member Rep. Matt Hostettler (R- Pakota), had concerns with distributing more syringes than disposing of them.
Hostettler shared his own personal story of losing someone to drug use.
“So, sometime after 2015, someone handed my friend and her husband a needle, and I don't really care if it was clean or not,” Hostettler.
Hostettler voted against the amendment Tuesday but said he may vote in favor on the House floor.
Lawmakers and officials made multiple references to the issue of discarded used needles in Bloomington, as well as the difficulties in cleaning them up safely.
Bloomington’s syringe exchange captures more than 100 percent of the needles it distributes, according to Alan Witchey, president of the Damien Center.
“We don't know that these needles that we're finding on the street are coming from the needle exchange programs,” said Rep. Cindy Ledbetter (R- Newburgh). “The two million needles that are out there that haven't been returned, maybe they're clean needles that have never been used. We don’t have that information.”
In addition to protecting against HIV, syringe exchanges provide treatment and prevention for hepatitis C and syphilis.
The Indiana Recovery Alliance oversees Monroe County’s syringe exchange services. Board President Kylee Kimbrough pushed back against lawmakers’ concerns that the services enable addiction. Kimbrough said individuals are five times more likely to enter into appropriate treatments when they use syringe exchanges.
“We don't enable drug use,” Kimbrough said. “We enable surviving drug use.”
