Drug & Alcohol Rehab For North Vernon, Indiana

North Vernon, Indiana is located in southern Indiana, less than an hour and a half southeast of Indianapolis, an hour northeast of Louisville, and an hour and a half west of Cincinnati. This makes this serene little city strategically located along U.S. Highway 50, surrounded by some of the region’s most beautiful forests and most fertile agricultural land. While it may not be a thriving metropolis, this city of 6,566 residents is perhaps best known for producing several famous American writers, poets, and artists over the past century and a half.

Sadly, the city of North Vernon has battled a slowing economy and rising cost of living. As of the latest census data, the median household income in North Vernon is $48,235, which falls well below the state’s median of $70,051. To make matters worse, many North Vernon residents live below the poverty line. In fact, the poverty rate is 18.2% in North Vernon, compared to 12.3% statewide. [1]

The declining economy has only exacerbated the ongoing substance abuse crisis sweeping through North Vernon and the rest of Jennings County. Based on the most recent data, alcohol and meth are the two most commonly abused substances in North Vernon, Indiana. The city also sees the abuse of other addictive substances, such as marijuana, prescription opioids, cocaine, and heroin.

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

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in North Vernon

Like nearly every city of its size in Indiana, North Vernon depends on county officials to collect and send substance abuse data to the state for analysis. While this streamlines the process of collecting relevant information regarding arrests, overdoses, and deaths, it also makes it more difficult to identify cases that originate in a specific location. For example, Jennings County has a population of approximately 27,613, which means that North Vernon — despite being the largest and only incorporated city in the county — accounts for just 23.7% of the county population.

Jennings County combines data collected from all municipalities within its borders, including smaller towns and designated places like Vernon and Country Squire Lakes. That said, North Vernon is still twice as big as the second-largest municipality in the county, and by some estimates, nearly half of all substance abuse cases in the county originate in North Vernon. Consequently, evaluating the city’s substance abuse crisis based on county-level data is still the most effective method at our disposal.

One of the first statistics we observe in our research is the number of fatal overdoses that occur each year. Despite its small population, there is a high number of fatal overdoses recorded most years in Jennings County. This data helps us see how deaths caused by addiction have changed over the years in the area, and how well the county’s initiatives to combat deaths have (or have not) worked. The table below shows how deaths involving all drugs (including alcohol) have changed in the county over the past few years. [2]

*Data for 2023 and 2024 is provisional and may be subject to change. The last date that data was collected was 09/04/2024.

Though data for 2023 and 2024 are not finalized, there is a clear upward trend in fatal overdoses in Jennings County. Between 2016 and 2022, fatal overdoses more than doubled. With the exception of 2016 and 2020, nearly every year with finalized data saw a high death count in comparison to the county’s total population.

Deaths are far from the only factor to consider, especially since non-fatal overdoses are much more common. Non-fatal overdoses are typically easier to quantify as well since they can be collected via hospital discharges and emergency department visits involving addictive substances. The table below shows the relevant overdose data in Jennings County between 2016 and 2024: [3]

*Data for 2023 and 2024 is provisional and may be subject to change. The last date that data was collected was 09/04/2024.

Even excluding the years with provisional data, there is a very strong downward trajectory for non-fatal overdoses in Jennings County. Between 2016 and 2022, annual non-fatal overdoses declined by 212%. On the surface, this indicates that the substance abuse crisis is waning and there are fewer total overdoses. While this is true, it’s very important to look at this data in tandem with the fatal overdoses. If non-fatal overdoses are declining dramatically while fatal overdoses are increasing, it means a much higher percentage of overdoses are resulting in deaths.

For example, Jennings County recorded 166 total overdoses (fatal plus non-fatal) in 2016. There were only 8 fatal overdoses that year, representing 4.8% of all overdoses. By 2022, there were a total of 101 overdoses, with 19 being fatal. This meant the percentage of fatal overdoses increased to 18.8%. This can indicate a number of changes that are difficult to quantify, such as easier access to high-risk drugs like fentanyl, reduced access to life-saving drugs like Naloxone, or an increased propensity to abuse more than one drug or substance simultaneously.

Types of Substance Abuse in North Vernon

In 2023 and 2024, alcohol and meth were the most abused substances in Jennings County. Alcohol is the most abused substance in all of Indiana, followed by marijuana, but many parts of southern Indiana struggle heavily with crystal meth abuse. Jennings County is no exception, as alcohol and meth are involved in the highest number of substance-related arrests and re-arrests.

While calculating the type of substance abuse based on arrest and re-arrest data alone is not wholly sufficient, it does offer an overview of what types of drugs are being abused the most. It does not, however, account for those who abuse drugs or alcohol and evade arrest. In any case, 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 Jennings County:

*Statistics for 2023 and 2024 are still preliminary and do not account for the entire calendar year(s).

Total arrests have steadily declined since 2019, and the types of substances being abused have changed over the same period in Jennings County. Cocaine and opioid arrests have been uncommon in the area during this period. Marijuana arrests were very high a few years ago, but have since dropped off. And though alcohol and meth arrests have declined, they’ve both remained higher than any other substance. It’s also important to note that drug paraphernalia arrests are extremely high in North Vernon and the rest of Jennings County, and these arrests are most often linked to meth and heroin abuse.