Drug & Alcohol Rehab For Versailles, Indiana

Versailles, Indiana, lies at the meeting point of Highway 50 and the end of Interstate 421. It’s a town within Johnson Township and serves as the seat of Ripley County. The small town of roughly 2,188 people is best known for the vast Versailles State Park, which surrounds the town on its northern and eastern borders. Versailles is also just a short drive from the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge, and an hour’s drive from downtown Cincinnati.

Much like the rest of Ripley County, Versailles enjoys a thriving economy based in healthcare, manufacturing, and tourism. The median household income in Ripley County is just slightly above average for Indiana at $71,084 per year, and the poverty rate is 10.3% (compared to 12.3% statewide). [1]

Despite the natural beauty and economic prosperity, Versailles and Ripley County have struggled with substance abuse for years. Based on the most recent data, meth, alcohol, and marijuana are the most commonly abused substances in Versailles, Indiana. The city also sees the abuse of other addictive substances, such as prescription opioids, cocaine, and heroin.

Continue reading to learn about substance abuse and addiction in Versailles, Indiana. And remember, if you or a loved one is fighting addiction in Versailles or the surrounding area, you can always reach out to Addiction Rehab Centers for help.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Versailles

Versailles only makes up a small part of Ripley County; about 7.4% of the county’s 29,214 people, to be more precise. This matters because Indiana delegates the management of substance abuse data to county administrators. The county then collects data from individual towns, cities, and unincorporated communities. The data (including arrests, overdoses, and fatalities) is then aggregated so that it can be more easily analyzed by the county and state.

This means that substance abuse cases originating in the town of Versailles are combined with cases originating in other parts of the county, like Osgood and Milan. However, Versailles is centrally located in the county and is one of the largest towns by population in the county. By some estimates, as much as 30% of all substance abuse cases recorded in Ripley County originate in the town of Versailles (on average). In other words, evaluating the county-level data still offers a relatively accurate picture of the ongoing substance abuse crisis in Versailles alone.

Fatalities tend to be infrequent in mid-sized counties like Ripley County. Our analysis of the most recent data shows that Ripley County’s fatal overdoses are on par with most other counties of its size in Indiana. The table below shows how deaths involving all drugs (including alcohol) have changed in the county over the past few years. [2]

*Data for 2024 is provisional and may be subject to change. The last date that data was collected was 05/21/2025.

Overdose fatalities followed a pretty familiar trajectory between 2016 and 2023 (the latest year with finalized data). Between 2016 and 2019, they generally declined. However, the pandemic saw deaths peak at 13 in 2020 and continue to remain high through 2022. Fatal overdoses dropped to an all-time low of 3 in 2023. The provisional data for 2024 only indicates that there have been at least 1 but fewer than 5 deaths. Once the 2024 data is finalized, it will be easier to see if fatalities are still in decline since the peaks reached during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We always begin by evaluating fatalities, but non-fatal overdoses often provide more information about the scope of a substance abuse crisis, and this remains true in Versailles and the rest of Ripley County. Non-fatal overdoses are far more common, and on average, there are roughly 50 non-fatal overdoses for every 1 fatal overdose, according to national data from the CDC. [3]

Based on our experience, non-fatal overdose data is often more reliable and accurate, as it is diligently recorded via hospital discharges and emergency department visits involving addictive substances. The table below shows the relevant overdose data in Ripley County between 2016 and 2024: [4]

*Data for 2024 is provisional and may be subject to change. The last date that data was collected was 05/21/2025.

Aside from an uptick in non-fatal overdoses in 2020, Ripley County shows a clear downward trend since 2016. Between 2016 and 2023, non-fatal overdoses declined by 59.7%. The provisional data for 2024 shows a small decline from 2023, which may indicate that there will continue to be fewer non-fatal overdoses.

While this pattern is generally an indication that a substance abuse crisis is easing and that fewer people are abusing drugs, it’s important not to look at any given statistic in a vacuum. We must also evaluate the correlation between fatal overdoses, non-fatal overdoses, and total overdoses (fatal plus non-fatal). In 2016, Ripley County recorded 90 total overdoses, 9 of which were fatal (10%). By 2023, Ripley County recorded 33 fatal overdoses, 3 of which were fatal (10%).

This shows that the fatality rate did not change, though it remained much higher than the national average. It’s also important to consider that this is just a comparison of two years (2016 and 2023). If we look at 2022, Ripley County recorded 51 total overdoses, 9 of which were fatal (17.6%). Fatality rates fluctuate from year to year, but Ripley County sees high fatality rates most years, even as the number of total overdoses declines.

Types of Substance Abuse in Versailles

In 2023 and 2024, meth, alcohol, and marijuana were the most abused substances in Ripley County. Alcohol is the most-abused substance statewide in Indiana, though meth has become increasingly prevalent in many parts of southern Indiana (including Ripley County). Marijuana has also seen increased prevalence in many counties throughout the state.

We determine these trends based on the available law enforcement data. More specifically, we look at arrests and re-arrests involving addictive substances. This is by no means an exact science, as it excludes cases of substance abuse in which no law has been broken, as well as cases where a law has been broken but no arrest has occurred. Still, it is one of the best ways to see how different types of addictive substances are being abused, and how these trends have changed in Versailles and the rest of Ripley County over the past decade.

Here is the latest data from Indiana’s Next Level Recovery program showing the arrests involving different kinds of addictive substances between 2016 and 2024 in Ripley County:

*Statistics for 2024 are still preliminary and do not account for the entire calendar year.

Excluding the provisional data for 2024, the total number of arrests involving addictive substances has declined dramatically in Ripley County. Between 2016 and 2023, total arrests dropped by 63%. Over the same period, arrests involving alcohol declined by 45%, while marijuana and meth arrests declined by 60.7% and 45.9%, respectively. This means that alcohol and meth arrests have not declined as rapidly as arrests involving other substances.

In Versailles and the rest of Ripley County, there are relatively few cocaine arrests, and arrests involving opioids vary from year to year, but are relatively uncommon compared to alcohol, marijuana, and meth. Drug paraphernalia arrests remained consistently high in comparison to the total arrests each year, and these arrests are often linked to meth or heroin abuse.

We should point out that the provisional data for 2024 shows a sudden spike in arrests, particularly arrests involving marijuana, meth, and opioids. This data is still not finalized, so we must wait until it’s official to draw firm conclusions about the reasons for this shift.