Indiana's six county syringe exchange programs stand at a crossroads as lawmakers weigh whether to extend a decade-old harm reduction initiative that serves thousands of people struggling with substance use disorder. Senate Bill 91 will determine if these programs continue operating beyond July 2026, a deadline that carries profound consequences for people like Morgan Bryant, who found her path to recovery through the Damien Center's syringe exchange program in Indianapolis. The debate reflects a broader tension between treating addiction as a public health crisis versus facilitating illegal drug use, with political headwinds from federal policy changes adding urgency to what was once a bipartisan approach to Indiana's opioid epidemic.
The programs operate in six counties across Indiana, providing free and anonymous needle exchanges where people can trade used syringes for clean supplies. Beyond preventing disease transmission, these sites serve as critical access points to healthcare services including wound treatment, hepatitis C screening, and naloxone distribution. Most importantly, they function as a bridge to recovery for people who aren't yet ready to stop using but need someone to meet them where they are.
For Morgan Bryant, the path to addiction started with legitimate medical treatment. After being hit by a car, doctors told her she might never walk again due to a broken back and pelvis. "They didn't think I would ever walk again," Bryant said. "I was going to do it for my kids." She defied expectations and learned to walk again. But when her prescription pain medications ended, withdrawal hit hard. That's when she turned to heroin: "I found something to make me feel better."
By 2023, the 44-year-old Indianapolis eastside resident was using meth and heroin, sharing needles and living with untreated hepatitis C. She wanted to stop sharing needles and get treatment for the virus, and if she got sober, she could safely watch her 2-year-old granddaughter. "You're always on the run. Chasing after that high, that bag, that dealer," Bryant said. "I was looking for a way out."
She found that way out at the Damien Center, Indianapolis' oldest AIDS service organization. The syringe exchange became more than just a source of clean supplies. Each week, Bryant exchanged her used needles for sterile equipment and boxes of naloxone, the life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses. Staff treated her injection wounds, connecting her with healthcare services traditional emergency rooms often fail to provide.
"At first, the syringe exchange was just a place for clean supplies," Bryant recalled. Eventually, staff connected her to a 28-day treatment program and a recovery house. Now almost two years sober, Bryant still visits the Damien Center for naloxone, keeping it stocked in her purse and glovebox. Most afternoons are spent baking cookies and watching "KPop Demon Hunters" with her grandchildren.
"When you're using, you're basically dead," Bryant said. "I made it out of the graveyard."
Indiana legalized syringe exchanges in 2015 after a major HIV outbreak in Scott County resulted from widespread needle sharing during drug injection. The programs have since become essential public health infrastructure. Between 2024 and 2025, participating sites distributed more than 47,000 doses of naloxone. Participants reported using that medication to reverse approximately 1,700 overdoses during that same period.
These statistics matter deeply to Senator Michael Crider, a Republican from Greenfield who filed Senate Bill 91 to extend the programs for another decade. Without passage, all syringe exchanges must close in July 2026.
"We are treating addiction not as a moral failure, but a health problem," Crider told Mirror Indy. "You get a window of opportunity to help people. This is one tool I want to see available."
Crider's bill faces significant opposition within his own party. Last summer, the Trump administration restricted federal funding for harm reduction programs, including needle exchanges. The executive order characterized the public health approach as facilitating illegal drug use rather than preventing disease and death.
During a January 7 Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services meeting, some Indiana Republicans questioned whether syringe exchanges effectively connect people to treatment. The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council testified against extending the programs, with senior traffic safety resource prosecutor Chris Daniels arguing that some exchanges cause a "proliferation of needles" and facilitate drug use.
This opposition reflects a fundamental disagreement about how to address addiction. Critics view harm reduction as enabling continued drug use. Proponents see it as keeping people alive long enough to choose recovery, recognizing that abstinence-only approaches fail to reach people in active addiction.
On a Tuesday evening in mid-January, a few people trickled into the Damien Center during the program's last hour. An older woman approached the service window with her backpack, ready to collect new supplies.
"Do you need any Narcan?" a staff member asked, using the brand name for naloxone.
The woman nodded and asked for two doses. Recently, she had to use the medication on a stranger. "I don't know if they made it or not," she told the staff. "I want everything."
Before walking out into the winter cold, the woman scheduled an appointment to get treated for hepatitis C. Her sores, she said, weren't healing on their own anymore. This scene repeats itself throughout the week at syringe exchanges across Indiana. Each interaction represents a moment where someone actively using drugs receives dignity, healthcare access, and potentially life-saving medication without judgment or precondition. For many, these brief encounters become the first step toward something more.
The question facing Indiana lawmakers isn't whether addiction exists or whether people should use drugs. The question is whether the state will maintain programs proven to reduce disease transmission, prevent overdose deaths, and create pathways to treatment for people who aren't ready to quit.
Bryant's story illustrates what's possible when harm reduction services exist. She didn't stop using drugs the first time she visited the Damien Center. She came for clean needles and wound care. The relationship built through those transactions eventually led her to treatment and recovery. Without the syringe exchange, she might not have survived long enough to reach that decision.
"When you're using, you're basically dead," Bryant reflected. "I made it out of the graveyard."
If Senate Bill 91 fails to pass, programs like the one that saved Bryant's life will close their doors in July 2026. The naloxone distribution will stop. The wound care will disappear. The connection points between active addiction and treatment programs will vanish. People will continue using drugs, but they'll do it with shared needles and without access to overdose reversal medication.
The programs that emerged from Indiana's 2015 HIV outbreak represent a public health intervention that saves lives while offering recovery pathways for those ready to take them. Whether Indiana chooses to sustain that infrastructure depends on lawmakers' willingness to treat addiction as the health crisis Senator Crider describes, rather than the moral failure his opponents imply.
For the thousands of Hoosiers still struggling with substance use disorder, that legislative decision will determine whether they have access to the same lifeline Morgan Bryant found—or whether they'll face their addiction without the support that helped her make it out of the graveyard.
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