CONNERSVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ Officials in an eastern Indiana county that had dozens of heroin overdoses last fall are the latest to seek approval for a needle-exchange program aimed at helping curtail disease among intravenous drug users
The Fayette County commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to request Indiana State Department of Health permission to start a needle exchange. The Connersville News-Examiner reports the county health officer says its number of new hepatitis C cases for this year has already reached the 74 cases reported for all of 2014.
County Commissioner Frank Jackson says police have made nearly 200 felony drug-related arrests in the county since October.
Officials in neighboring Wayne County also are considering seeking needle-exchange program approval, which so far has been granted to Scott and Madison counties under a new state law.
