LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ind. -- An Indiana county recently ended its needle exchange program, just after a commissioner recited a Bible verse about "turning from their wicked ways."
Lawrence County commissioners voted to end the needle exchange program in a meeting last week, much to the frustration of its supporters.
“People are going to die,” said Christopher Abert of the Indiana Recovery Alliance, to NBC News. The Indiana Recovery Alliance is a group in favor of needle exchange programs.
Abert is listed as an overdose educator on the Indiana Recover Alliance's roster.
Before casting his vote, county commissioner Rodney Fish quoted 2 Chronicles 7, which reads, in part:
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
Fish said it was a "moral issue" that caused him to vote to end the needle exchange.
“I had severe reservations that were going to keep me from approving that motion,” Fish said. “I did not approach this decision lightly. I gave it a great deal of thought and prayer. My conclusion was that I could not support this program and be true to my principles and my beliefs.”
Fish also said he doesn't believe the program works like its advocates say it does. He also spoke to many people in the county to get their opinion of the needle exchange program.
“I researched to the best of my ability and queried individuals all over our community to get a response from the people who deal in these issues," Fish said. "I spoke with physicians. I spoke with nurses, EMTs, first responders and other county officials whose opinions I respect.”
Across Indiana, needle exchange programs have been a topic of controversy.
Madison County ended its needle exchange program a couple months after its prosecutor, Rodney Cummings, said they are illegal.
"That's illegal -- anyone else who does that if you are standing on the corner passing out drug paraphernalia that you know is going to be used to inject heroin into the body…anybody else gets arrested for that,” he said.
Indiana's floodgates of needle exchanges opened in Scott County in 2015, when more than 100 people were diagnosed with HIV.
MORE | Madison County prosecutor says needle exchange program is ‘illegal' | Madison County Council votes to end needle exchange program | Indiana health official: Needle exchanges save lives, money | Scott County HIV outbreak: How did it happen and where does it stand?
Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general and former Indiana Health Commissioner, said the programs have saved lives and money.
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