Indiana syringe exchanges face July 2026 shutdown unless lawmakers act

Indiana’s syringe exchange programs face closure in July 2026 unless state lawmakers pass legislation to extend them, a decision point in a broader debate over harm reduction during the opioid crisis. The programs, operating in six counties, would shut down automatically if Senate Bill 91 fails to pass. The legislation, filed by Sen. Michael Crider, a Republican from Greenfield, would extend the exchanges for another decade.

The programs have become a flashpoint between Republicans and Democrats in the legislature, with data showing significant public health benefits—hepatitis C infections fell 60 percent in Marion County after five years of operations—but facing opposition from some GOP lawmakers and the state’s prosecutors association.

Background and impact

Nearly 6,000 people in Indianapolis used a syringe exchange program in the past two years. The programs are free and anonymous.

In 2018, Marion County declared a public health emergency as hepatitis C cases skyrocketed among people injecting drugs. The county launched syringe exchange sites the following year. Data from the Marion County Public Health Department shows the results: hepatitis C cases fell about 60 percent after five years of operations.

More than 47,000 doses of naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses, were distributed between 2024 and 2025. Program participants reported using the medication to reverse about 1,700 overdoses.

From addiction to recovery

Morgan Bryant first walked into the Damien Center, Indianapolis’s oldest AIDS service organization, in 2023. The 44-year-old had started with prescription pain pills after a car injury broke her back and pelvis. “They didn’t think I would ever walk again,” she said. After recovering physically, withdrawal from the medications led her to heroin.

At the syringe exchange, Bryant got clean supplies and boxes of naloxone. Staff helped treat wounds from injecting and eventually connected her to a 28-day treatment program and recovery housing. Nearly two years sober, Bryant spends most afternoons baking cookies and watching television with her grandchildren.

“When you’re using, you’re basically dead,” she said. “I made it out of the graveyard.”

But the program that helped her may not survive the 2026 legislative session. Indiana’s syringe exchange programs, operating in six counties, face mandatory shutdown in July 2026 unless state lawmakers pass Senate Bill 91 to extend them for another decade.

Political divide over harm reduction

The programs were legalized in 2015 after a major HIV outbreak in Scott County from drug injections. Now they face both federal and state opposition.

Last summer, the Trump administration restricted federal funding for harm reduction programs, including needle exchanges, arguing the public health approach “facilitates illegal drug use.”

In the state legislature, Sen. Michael Crider, a Republican from Greenfield, filed SB 91 to extend the exchanges. Crider frames the issue as a public health question, not a moral one.

“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.”

The bill has bipartisan support. Sen. La Keisha Jackson, a Democrat representing Indianapolis’s east side, is a co-author. Jackson said stigma prevents recognition of the programs’ public health benefits.

“We’re not encouraging the syringe program to continue drug use,” Jackson said. “It’s effective at reducing injections and assisting people in recovery.”

But Crider is running up against opposition within his own party. At a January 7 Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services hearing, some Indiana Republicans questioned whether the exchanges effectively get people into treatment. The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council opposed extending the programs.

Chris Daniels, a senior traffic safety resource prosecutor for the council, claimed the exchanges cause a “proliferation of needles” and facilitate drug use. When lawmakers pressed him for data supporting those claims, Daniels said he was hearing concerns from law enforcement across the state but did not provide documentation.

Amendment threatens bill’s passage

An amendment from Sen. Aaron Freeman, an Indianapolis Republican, would require program participants to show identification and proof of residency. Crider opposes the change, saying it would limit access for people seeking help.

“If somebody realizes they need help and this is a step, it should be available no matter where they live,” Crider told Mirror Indy.

SB 91 passed out of committee but faces an uncertain path in the full Senate. Without passage, the programs—and the pathways to recovery they provide—will close in July.