Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 2015
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

IND. GOVERNOR OK'S NEEDLE EXCHANGE

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Governor Mike Pence overrode Indiana law and his 
own antidrug policies Thursday to authorize a short-term 
needle-exchange program designed to help contain HIV infections in a 
rural county where 79 cases have been reported, all of them tied to 
intravenous drug use.

Pence issued an executive order declaring a public health emergency 
in Scott County, an economically depressed area about 30 miles north 
of Louisville, Ky., that has seen dozens of new infections since 
December. The county typically sees only about five HIV cases each 
year, health officials said.

All of those infected either live in or have ties to the county, and 
all of the infections have been linked to needle sharing among drug users.

Most of the infections involve people who injected a liquefied form 
of the prescription painkiller Opana. Methamphetamine and heroin 
account for the remaining cases, health officials said.

Pence, a Republican, said officials from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention said it would be "medically appropriate" to 
authorize some type of needle exchange to help stem infections.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom