Drug & Alcohol Rehab For Shelbyville, Indiana

Shelbyville is among the most beautiful and historically significant cities in the greater Indianapolis Metropolitan Area. Serving as the county seat of Shelby County, Shelbyville is located about 40 minutes southeast of downtown Indianapolis. Visitors are often struck by the city’s central fountain and beautifully landscaped main street. Shelbyville is home to dozens of historical sites, as well as Horseshoe Indianapolis, a large casino and horse racing track that helps provide jobs and brings revenue into the city.

Unfortunately, life has not been easy for many residents of Shelbyville in recent years. Over the past decade, the poverty rate has risen well above the state average. These economic issues only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the city has a population of 20,067 — but 18.8% of these Shelbyville residents live below the poverty line. [1] The rise in poverty has also exacerbated another problem that has plagued Shelbyville, Addison Township, and the rest of Shelby County for years — substance abuse.

Shelbyville’s addiction and substance abuse case numbers have risen steadily over the past decade, following trends seen in many other cities throughout Indiana. Based on the most recent data, meth is among the most commonly abused drugs in Shelbyville, though marijuana, heroin, alcohol, prescription opioids, and cocaine are not far behind.

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

Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Shelbyville

There’s little doubt that drugs and alcohol are negatively affecting individuals and families throughout Shelbyville, but this claim needs to be backed up with hard facts. Like most small and mid-sized cities in Indiana, Shelbyville does not publish its own substance abuse data. For example, while local coroner’s reports may shed some light on overdose deaths in the city, this data is not aggregated or even collected at the city level. Instead, Shelby County collects all of Shelbyville’s substance abuse data and works in coordination with the state to manage and evaluate it.

This means that substance abuse cases and deaths that occur in other cities throughout Shelby County get mixed in with the data coming from the city of Shelbyville. However, Shelby accounts for roughly half of the county population, and the city’s population has been on the rise for decades. Consequently, evaluating county-level data provides a pretty accurate picture of the substance abuse crisis in Shelbyville alone. Additionally, it’s estimated that Shelbyville accounts for nearly 70% of all substance abuse cases in the county.

Overdose deaths are one of the most important metrics to consider when evaluating the substance abuse crisis in Shelbyville or any other city. While these deaths are tragic and so much more than mere numbers, they do provide insight into the extent of substance abuse in the region. This information can be used to craft more effective strategies to fight addiction and save lives in the future. Sadly, overdose deaths have been on the rise in Shelbyville since 2016. [2] The table below shows how deaths involving all drugs (including alcohol) have changed in the area over the past few years:

*Data for 2023 is provisional and only accounts for the first half of the year.

It would be easy to assume that the data for 2023 shows a steep decline in overdose deaths, but it’s extremely important to consider that this data is provisional. The 9 deaths recorded in 2023 were from the first half of the year alone, and data for the second half of 2023 is not yet available. In any case, between 2016 and 2022 (all the years with finalized data), Shelby County saw an increase in annual overdose deaths of 250%. If overdose deaths continue with this trend, Shelby County could record even more annual deaths in 2023, 2024, and beyond.

The idea of dying as a result of drugs or alcohol is terrifying, but fortunately, far more people survive overdoses. For this reason, it’s vital to examine the number of people who experience overdoses and are saved by first responders and medical personnel. The table below shows the relevant overdose data in Shelby County between 2016 and 2023: [3]

*Data for 2023 is provisional and only accounts for the first half of the year.

Despite a rise in overdose deaths, non-fatal overdoses have declined in recent years. Between 2016 and 2022, annual non-fatal overdoses declined by 27.5%. Based on the preliminary data for 2023, this downward trend could continue. And while it’s generally a good sign when there are fewer total overdoses, the relationship between total overdoses and fatal overdoses is troubling. Even as the total overdoses declined, fatal overdoses increased substantially. In 2016, fatal overdoses accounted for just 3.2% of all overdoses in Shelby County. By 2022, fatal overdoses accounted for 15.6% of all overdoses. It’s unclear why this change has occurred, though experts point to the proliferation of powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Types of Substance Abuse in Shelbyville

In 2022, meth was the most abused drug in Shelby County. However, when evaluating an entire city or county, drug and alcohol usage tends to fluctuate over time. There’s no one perfect metric that can identify with precision which kinds of substances people are abusing. That said, arrest and re-arrest records can show more general trends in addiction and substance abuse. 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 Shelby County:

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

Between 2016 and 2022, there was a substantial downward trend in addictive substance-related arrests in Shelby County. This aligns with many other counties throughout Indiana, since the state experienced a temporary shutdown during the pandemic and there were fewer arrests, particularly arrests involving DUIs. Over the same period, arrests involving alcohol, marijuana, prescription opioids, and drug paraphernalia (often related to heroin abuse) declined. However, arrests involving meth and cocaine increased.

It’s important to take note of the provisional data for 2023 and 2024 as well. While the numbers are not yet finalized, 2023 saw a sudden increase in total arrests, particularly those involving meth and cocaine, while arrests involving other substances continued to decline. The data for 2024 only accounts for the first quarter of the year, but it shows a similar trend of substance-related arrests increasing, even as certain types of substance abuse appear to be in decline.