The Indiana Senate voted 33-13 Tuesday on a bill that, if passed by the House, will extend syringe services programs through 2036.
The state's first program opened more than a decade ago, in response to a historic HIV outbreak in Scott County.
Republican state Sen. Michael Crider, a former law enforcement member representing Hancock and part of Shelby and Marion counties, brought the measure.
He said the programs help reduce communicable disease transmission, provide touchpoints for recovery and ultimately cost the state less in health care. And, he said, it's up to local bodies to pursue the programs or not.
"We need to have the program in place, even if all six counties currently offering the program decided to end it tomorrow," Crider said. "If the law is on the books and we have another epidemic, another crisis situation, we can act really quickly on that. But if we eliminate the law, we're right back where we were in 2015."
Syringe services programs provide clean needles and dispose of used ones. They also offer other sterile supplies for safer drug use and can help connect people to addiction treatment.
Hepatitis C cases, Crider said, dropped from more than 8,500 in 2017 to fewer than 3,000 in 2024.
Illnesses including Hepatitis C and HIV can be expensive for the state. A person with HIV who uses Medicaid costs the state around $300,000 a year, he said.
Republican state Sen. Aaron Freeman, of District 32, which includes part of Johnson and Marion counties, voted against the bill, saying he thinks the government should not be facilitating illegal drug use.
"You have a government acting and giving them everything but the heroin," he said during the Tuesday hearing. "Maybe there's a day that we give that. I mean, at least we know it doesn't have fentanyl in it that's going to kill them. I mean, where does this end? When does this end?"
Freeman authored an amendment to the bill that would have required a one-to-one exchange for syringes, and identification and residency requirements to access programs. It didn't come up for a vote in the Senate.
The bill was instead amended to include language from Crider that would allow the local authority to impose any return requirements it chooses, including a one-to-one exchange.
Crider says programs currently measure how many needles are returned by weighing sharps containers. This allows staff to avoid touching used needles. He said an even exchange is the goal.
Freeman doubted all areas would impose a strict one-to-one.
"There is zero chance the Indianapolis City-County Council will do that," Freeman said.
One of the state's eight syringe programs is in Clark County. It opened in 2017.
Information from the Clark County Health Department shows the program had close to 400 participants in 2025, and more than 1,800 since it started. Last year, it had close to a 90% syringe return rate from participants, and an almost 124% return rate including those from the community.
LPM News reported in December that local health officials expected the lowest number of drug overdose deaths for the year in more than a decade. They credited programming like syringe services programs, along with added treatment and shifting drug trends in contributing to that.
But future funding for these programs is in question.
Last summer, the county stopped distributing their federally-funded harm reduction supplies for safer drug use after President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at preventing funding for efforts he said "facilitate illegal drug use."
The department moved along with privately funded supplies, including syringes.
Republican state Sen. Mike Gaskill, who represents Madison County and part of Hamilton, reiterated the sentiments against the programs.
"We're helping people break the law by doing this, this program. I think it's time to end it," he said, later adding, "I think we have to take a rough, firm approach to drugs in the United States. And this is certainly, in my opinion, not it."
Crider said during the hearing that early in his law enforcement career, he was taught that the way to handle addiction was more arrests. But he learned a lot about what people in addiction are facing through his work at a Greenfield hospital, which has influenced his work in the general assembly.
And he emphasized that the bill lets local bodies choose if they want to go after the programs.
"We're not going to save everybody," he said. "We give them a chance."
The bill will next head to the House.
More information on this bill and the 2026 legislative session is at iga.in.gov.
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