ANDERSON, Ind. — A prosecutor in Indiana took his concerns about items included in needle exchange kits around the state to the Statehouse this week.

Rodney Cummings, prosecutor for Madison County in central Indiana, said he had heard complaints from members of the county’s Drug Task Force about the items that aid drug users in shooting methamphetamine, heroin and other opiates. However, he felt the need to take the issue to Indiana government leadership after seeing the kit himself.

In addition to syringes, each needle exchange kit in Madison County for first-time participants in the program comes with a sharps container to put used needles in, a rubber tourniquet, alcohol pads, a bandage, triple antibiotic ointment, condoms, two vials of sterile water, cotton filters, a small metal cooker — used to dissolve the drugs prior to injection — and a twist tie with which to hold the cooker. After the first visit, users request whichever items they will actually use to save supplies.

The state Department of Health started a needle exchange program in southern Indiana’s Scott County in 2015 as a result of an increase in hepatitis C and HIV positive cases. Then-Gov. Mike Pence authorized the program after declaring a public health emergency following an outbreak of more than 70 cases of HIV linked to intravenous drug use.

Stephenie Grimes, who runs the program through the Madison County Health Department, said each item helps protect users from spreading HIV and hepatitis B and C to others.

Cummings and Prosecutor Pat Harrington of Tippecanoe County met with Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and legislative aides of Gov. Eric Holcomb to discuss their concerns Monday afternoon. Cummings and Harrington are the two prosecutors from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council who are talking with Holcomb’s legislative aides to come to a consensus of how to deal with the heroin epidemic and the related public health concerns.

Cummings told the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin he can’t see how it is justifiable for health departments to give out tools to make taking heroin and other drugs easier.

“That sounds like encouraging drug use rather than discouraging drug use,” he said.

Cummings specifically singled out the cookers and the tourniquets as items in the kits that make it easier for users to inject the drugs into their system.

“To suggest that somehow they use those cookers as some sort of preventative method…a way to prevent the spread of disease, makes no sense to me,” Cummings said.

Grimes said since Madison County’s needle exchange program was the second to open in the state, they modeled the program after the pilot program in Scott County.

One of the more controversial items in the kit is a small, thin metal pot that is commonly called a cooker. It is not used for methamphetamine, but it is used to heat up heroin and other opiates.

Brittany Combs, public health nurse of Scott County, said having the cookers available is crucial because hepatitis C and HIV can be transmitted by using the same cooker.

“We’ve actually had some new positives,” Combs said. “They never shared needles but they shared the cotton and the cookers with each other.”

Cummings said the meeting with Hill and others went well.

“They are actually surprised, which might be an understatement, that our health agencies are dispensing items that facilitate the use of heroin,” he said.

Grimes said it should not be a surprise to anyone what is in the kit because the proposal and budget justification is posted on the health department’s website and lists all of the items in the kit. The proposal was signed by several county leaders.

One thing the kits lack, Cummings said, is information addicts can use to curb their addictions.

“What they’re giving away is a heroin kit,” he said. “They’re not giving away anything that reduces the use of heroin. It encourages addicts to continue using. If we’re serious about reducing drug use and drug addiction in our communities, let’s get them a packet that has treatment options.”

He added that he and his colleagues around the state “see what’s happening on the street level, what heroin is bringing into our communities. We want to be responsible about the administration of this program.”

Filchak writes for the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.