Promising a “fresh approach” to tackling Indiana’s substance-abuse crisis, Gov. Mike Pence met with Northwest Indiana officials Wednesday to get their recommendations for the drug task force he formed this week.

“If you’re dealing drugs to our kids, we’re coming for you,” Pence said at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point, where he was joined by state and local law enforcement, public health and social services officials. “But if you’re caught up in the web of addiction, my strong and passionate belief is that the state of Indiana owes it to ourselves, to our future and to our families to make sure Hoosiers know the treatment options that are available.”

Indiana saw a tenfold increase in the number of deaths from heroin overdoses from 2005 to 2013 and ranks 16th in the U.S. for drug overdoses, according to state and federal health agencies. In calling for a more comprehensive approach to fighting the drug war, Pence joins a chorus of public officials nationwide who are calling for a diversion of resources from jailing to treating drug addicts.

“We simply cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” he said. “We have to address the root causes that are driving abuse and addiction.”

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said law enforcement officials have traditionally been told to simply lock up drug offenders when that may be causing more harm than good. He praised a new state crime bill that allows judges to suspend drug sentences. “If you’re out there profiting from sending out this poison, you should go to jail,” he said. “But the ones that they’re feeding this poison to need some help.”

He noted that many of the murders that take place in Lake County involve marijuana dealers fighting over turf. He blames the increase in demand on states like Colorado legalizing marijuana and celebrities — he mentioned Kanye West’s speech at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards where the rapper admitted to being high — glorifying the drug.

“That sends a message that there’s nothing wrong with marijuana,” he said. “In the meantime, these young black men are fighting and killing one another over, ‘I’m going to sell it to you.'”

Whether it’s marijuana in urban Lake County or heroin and methaphetamine in rural Porter County, the problem of drugs affects the entire state, officials said.”The drugs are the same, whether they’re used in Lafayette or in Lake County,” said Mary Beth Bonaventura, director of the Indiana Department of Child Services and member of the substance-abuse task force.

The formation of the task force follows the recent diagnosis of more than 180 cases of HIV in rural southeast Indiana, which was caused by users of a prescription painkiller sharing dirty needles. During the outbreak, the largest in state history, Pence authorized a needle exchange program in Scott County, and the legislature this year passed a law allowing such programs, which were previously illegal in the state, in counties with high rates of HIV and hepatitis C infections.

But Pence said Wednesday that perhaps what most motivated him to act was the recent sharp increase in child abuse and neglect cases in Indiana, the vast majority of which involved substance abuse in the home.

“Our administration is prepared to make changes in policy and in practice and in resources to more effectively confront this challenge,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, this is about our families, this is about our kids, this is about our communities.”

Indiana Lawyer, Associate Press

A gay couple emerged from a county clerk’s office in Morehead, Kentucky, with a marriage license in hand Friday morning, embracing and crying as the defiant clerk who runs the office remained jailed for her refusal to issue the licenses because she opposed same-sex marriage.

William Smith Jr. and James Yates, a couple for nearly a decade, were the first to receive a marriage license in Rowan County. Deputy clerk Brian Mason issued the license, congratulating the couple and shaking their hands as he smiled. After they paid the license fee of $35.50, Yates rushed across the steps of the courthouse to hug his mom as both cried.

“This means at least for this area that civil rights are civil rights and they are not subject to belief,” said Yates, who had been denied a license five times previously.

A crowd of supporters cheered as the couple left, while a street preacher rained down words of condemnation. Yates and Smith said they are trying to choose between two wedding dates and plan a small ceremony at the home of Yates’ parents.

The licenses were issued only after five of Kim Davis’ deputy clerks agreed to hand them out, the lone holdout from the office being her son, Nathan Davis. Her office was dark Friday morning, with a sheriff’s deputy standing guard in front of it.

“I just want the licenses given out. I don’t want her in jail. No one wanted her in jail,” Yates said.

A second couple, Timothy and Michael Long, also were issued a license about an hour after Yates and Smith. When the couple got inside the office, a man harassed them and said, “More sodomites getting married?” The Longs did not respond, and a worker told the man to leave.

A third couple, April Miller and Karen Roberts, arrived around midday.

“Now we can breathe. I’m still ecstatic and happy. I just can’t wait to get married now,” Roberts said.

During a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Bunning had offered to release Davis if she promised not to interfere with her employees issuing licenses, but she refused, citing her Christian beliefs.

Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Davis’ husband, Joe Davis, held a sign saying “Welcome to Sodom and Gomorrah” and said his wife was in good spirits after her first night in jail.

When asked if she would resign, he said, “Oh, God no. She’s not going to resign at all. It’s a matter of telling Bunning he ain’t the boss.”

Kim Davis and Joe Davis still support her employees, whom he called “good people” and “good workers.” He said he ate with the other deputy clerks on Thursday at an Applebee’s restaurant and told them “I loved them and I was proud of them.”

Davis’ son supported his mother and was warned by the judge Thursday not to interfere with his fellow employees. The judge said he did not want “any shenanigans,” like the staff closing the office for computer upgrades as they did briefly last week.

“That would show a level of disrespect for the court’s order,” Bunning said. He added: “I’m hoping that cooler heads will prevail.”

The marriage licenses in the county usually have Davis’ signature on them, but the ones handed out Friday did not have any signature. The county attorney and lawyers for the gay couples said they are legal and valid despite the lack of a signature.

Bunning was asked during Thursday’s hearing about the licenses if Davis refused to authorize them, and he said it was up to the gay couples to take that chance.

The judge indicated Kim Davis would remain in jail at least a week, saying he would revisit his decision after the deputy clerks have had time to comply with his order. Her attorneys planned a news conference later Friday.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said he would visit Davis in jail next week and planned a rally to support her.

Davis said she hopes the Legislature will change Kentucky laws to find some way for her to keep her job while following her conscience. But Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear again refused to call a special session of the Legislature on Thursday. State lawmakers will not meet until January.

Davis, an Apostolic Christian, wept during her testimony in federal court Thursday, telling the judge she was “always a good person” but that she gave her heart to the Lord in 2011 and “promised to love Him with all my heart, mind and soul because I wanted to make heaven my home.”

“God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties,” Davis told the judge before she was taken away by a U.S. marshal. “You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”