Peter Schorsch
Sen. Oscar Braynon‘s legislation to expand Miami-Dade’s pilot syringe exchange program statewide, sailed unanimously through its second committee Wednesday afternoon and now – in only week 1 of the 2019 session – has a single committee stop left before hitting the Senate floor (SB 366).
Its House companion (HB 171) – introduced by Reps. Shevrin Jones and Rene Plasencia – has yet to move in that chamber, but sources tell us to look out for it on next week’s Health Quality Subcommittee agenda. However, those particulars matter less on the House-side, as Speaker Jose Oliva is on the record as a supporter of the legislation. It will move.
It is still incredibly early in the 2019 Session, but it looks like the statewide expansion of Miami’s IDEA syringe exchange is well on track to becoming law this year. And for good reason – in just over two years in operation in Dade County, the exchange has produced unbelievable results, and done so without a nickel of taxpayer money (a feature that makes it far more attractive to the Republican-led legislature).
Headed by Dr. Hansel Tookes, a young, dynamic associate professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the IDEA exchange opened its door in December 2016, after the legislation authorizing it passed with near unanimity in the 2016 session.
2016 was the year that Florida its single biggest leap in opioid overdose deaths, going from around 2,500 fatalities in 2015 to nearly 4,000 in 2016. As those statewide casualties increased from 2016 to 2017, they actually fell in Miami-Dade County.
The lifesaving results of the IDEA Exchange can also be seen in their distribution – and return – of the overdose reversal drug, Narcan.
Narcan is a simple to administer nasal spray that can instantaneously stop an overdose as it’s happening. IDEA has distributed over 2,000 of these single-use doses, and they’ve received over 1,100 returned used. Each used container represents a life saved. It’s pretty remarkable.
IDEA stands for Infectious Disease Elimination Act, and that is precisely what they are doing every day. Participants in the syringe exchange are tested at every visit for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, and are put into treatment and counseling within hours of a positive test.
With the use of injection drugs at all-time highs, catching and treating these infectious diseases has a public health benefit that extends far beyond drug addicts.
And despite the fact that IDEA has distributed nearly 300,000 needles, their work is actively taking needles off the streets and making sure they are properly disposed of. IDEA has taken in over 15,000 more syringes than they’ve given out, but the impact goes beyond that statistic.
A joint study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, Florida Department of Health and UM Miller School of Medicine, released only a few weeks ago, shows that – as syringe usage has risen, concurrent with the opioid epidemic – dramatically less syringes are showing up on sidewalks and in parks.
And where in 2009, 95 percent of syringes were found to have been disposed of unsafely, 75% of syringes were safely disposed of in 2018.
The State of Florida has been trying to do something – anything – to combat the ongoing opioid crisis effectively. Well here’s something that works. The progress of this legislation, this early in the session, is encouraging that it will get passed.
I hope so. We all should hope so.
