Working with Overdose Lifeline to Influence State Policy: Syringe Decriminalization, Senate Bill 11, and A Day of Advocacy

Abstract

Our Capstone group worked with Overdose Lifeline, an Indianapolis non-profit group that advocates for increased harm reduction solutions to prevent overdose deaths and disease transmission.

On January 3, 2019, Sen. Mike Bohacek and Sen. James Merritt introduced Senate Bill 11, which acted to amend current Syringe Exchange Program (SEP) legislation. Specifically, SB 11 proposed to “establish and maintain a syringe exchange program registry” that would track SEP participants statewide. The bill required a “qualified entity” to create a database that contains SEP participant names, dates of birth, last four of SSNs, and other identifying information to be determined, but did not name that entity and left many other questions unanswered.