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Scott County is one of the poorest and least healthy counties in Indiana. For years, it has struggled with injection drug abuse. Now the drug use in the area has spawned an epidemic of a different kind: HIV. ... The crisis led Indiana's governor, Mike Pence, to declare a public health emergency Thursday. It also reignited a debate in the state over the use of needle exchange programs to prevent HIV's spread among users of injected drugs. Such programs have been found to work elsewhere, but the strategy is illegal in Indiana — and in 22 other states. (Harper, 3/28)

Evidence that HIV and hepatitis C are spreading among intravenous drug users is prompting more state and local officials to consider setting up needle exchanges—including some who had been resistant to such programs. The problem comes in tandem with rising intravenous use of heroin and prescription painkillers nationwide. (Campo-Flores and Whalen, 3/29)