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Judi Lynn

(160,218 posts)
Thu Mar 26, 2015, 05:00 PM Mar 2015

Indiana governor overrides law to authorize needle exchange

Source: Associated Press

Mar 26, 4:39 PM EDT

Indiana governor overrides law to authorize needle exchange

By RICK CALLAHAN
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Indiana Gov. Mike Pence overrode state law and his own anti-drug policies Thursday to authorize a short-term needle-exchange program designed to help contain HIV infections in a rural county where more than six dozen 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, Kentucky, that has seen 79 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 Scott County 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.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HIV_OUTBREAK_INDIANA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-26-16-39-16

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Indiana governor overrides law to authorize needle exchange (Original Post) Judi Lynn Mar 2015 OP
Yeah, face the facts you RW piece of shite! nt wolfie001 Mar 2015 #1
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