County’s syringe exchange survives another 2-1 vote, gets two more years

Vote falls in a familiar way, in Gateway to Hope's favor

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COUNTY’S SYRINGE EXCHANGE GETS TWO MORE YEARS

Gateway to Hope, Tippecanoe County’s syringe exchange program, received another two-year authorization Monday from county commissioners who remained split over whether the harm reduction effort is working.

With unanimous backing by the Tippecanoe County Board of Health and an endorsement from Dr. Lindsay Weaver, Indiana’s state health commissioner, commissioners voted 2-1 to keep Gateway to Hope going as one of eight county syringe services in the state.

Commissioners David Byers and Tracy Brown voted in favor. Commissioner Tom Murtaugh voted against it, as he has since the program was first authorized in late 2016, before the Tippecanoe County Health Department opened it nearly a year later.

Murtaugh said he appreciated the wrap-around services surrounding Gateway to Hope, which is housed in the Recovery Café facility in a converted physician’s office at 23^rd and Ferry streets in Lafayette. Murtaugh, who has cast the lone vote against the program every two years, said he couldn’t back a legalized syringe exchange for those who were addicted.