Incredible, isn't it, that Florida, the one state a needle exchange program is needed most, doesn't have one?
Florida is now the state, and Miami the city, with the highest rate of HIV infections in the country. An uncomfortable little fact from the Florida Medical Association.
It's hard to think of a worst kind of advertisement for our family-friendly, Fresh-from-Florida image.
But that could be turning around. This session the Florida Legislature is doing something about it, thanks to HB 81 and companion SB 242 -- bills sponsored by Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation and Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens. The legislation would introduce a needle exchange program in the Miami area -- a five year pilot program.
A needle exchange program works like this: Injection drug users turn in their used (and possibly HIV-contaminated) needles and syringes and get sterile equipment in return. No, this is NOT an opportunity for a freebee needle to facilitate a deadly habit. The exchange program not only saves a drug user, it keeps children from stepping on contaminated needles on the street and is a measure of safety for first responders. It offers counseling, safer-sex education, HIV testing and referrals to drug treatment programs -- plus an accounting of needles and syringes distributed and in storage.
Most important, in Florida it will operate with the blessing of the state Department of Health and Surgeon General John Armstrong.
Edwards jumped the first and perhaps tallest hurdle on the road to passage Wednesday when the House Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly moved HB 81 forward. Next stop: Health and Human Services Committee.
"Think of it," Edwards told the committee, "this year, in just one year, we've seen a 23 percent increase in HIV/AIDS."
Called the Miami-Dade Infectious Disease Elimination Act (IDEA), the bills authorize the pilot program run by the University of Miami and its affiliates to offer what the Florida Medical Association describes as "free, clean, and unused needles and syringes as a means to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases among intravenous drug users."
Thirty states beat Florida to it, folks. Thirty states have a legal syringe exchange program (SEP) where injection drug users safely exchange used syringes for clean ones. Better late than never for the Sunshine State.
Medical student Chanelle Diaz, described to the committee the explosion of HIV/AIDS cases at Jackson Memorial Hospital. "What we see every day would be a public health emergency anywhere else," she said. Miami-Dade County has more than 10,000 injection drug users and more than one in five is HIV positive. At least one-third has hepatitis C. Why the sudden increase in new HIV/AIDS cases? Doctors say it's because the attorney general's war against pill mills has been so successful, addicts turned to injecting drugs as a substitute.
Why a pilot and not a statewide program? Because a pilot program can run at NO COST to taxpayers. None. For 60 months all funding will come from private sources -- grants and donations. In the end, the savings -- as experienced in SEP programs elsewhere -- should be through the roof.
The cost of a sterile syringe can be as little as 97 cents. The FMA claims the estimated lifetime cost of treating an HIV positive person is between $385,200 and $618,900. Want a shocking FMA fact? If 10 percent of new cases of HIV in injection drug users in Miami-Dade had been prevented, it would have represented a savings of $124 million in HIV treatment costs to Florida.
As bad a problem as Miami-Dade and even Broward have, in Europe Amsterdam's was worse. It once had one of the world's highest rates of injection drug use and one of the worst drug-associated HIV epidemics. No more. Amsterdam's now-long-established needle exchange program has virtually eliminated HIV transmission there. Consider how remarkable that is, say medical researchers. It's quite a story.
Needle exchange programs in New York City have reduced HIV infections to about 150 a year out of 150,000 injection drug users. That is very, very close to zero, Johns Hopkins researchers say, pointing out that most of the remaining infections may be due to sexual transmission, not needle drug use.
What's not to like about this legislation? Sadly, intravenous drug use is prevalent all over Florida -- in fact, all over the United States. Think about it. How many families do you know who haven't been touched by this kind of drug use? Here's an opportunity to keep loved ones safe, get them help, keep our communities safe and at the same time save taxpayers literally millions of dollars.
More than 20 organizations besides the state Department of Health -- from the Florida Medical Association to the AIDS Institute, from the Florida Hospital Association to the Florida Academy of Family Physicians -- all support HB 81 and SB 242. Many of them cheered Wednesday's vote.
Parent advocate and project director for the Suncoast Harm Reduction Project, Julia Negron, said, “Clean syringes would have prevented my son from contracting Hepatitis C. We must pass these reforms this year for the simple, moral reason that syringe exchanges save lives. Myself and my fellow parent advocates finally feel as if the Legislature is on the precipice of taking this step, thanks to the tireless effort of IDEA’s House and Senate sponsors, Rep. Edwards and Sen. Braynon.”
Literally dozens of Miami-Dade officials, firefighters, organization leaders and friends of the cause drove more than 400 miles to Tallahassee to stand with Edwards and Braynon at a Tuesday press conference, trying to get the Legislature's attention on these bills that look like no-brainers to me. This year should be the year Florida fights back against the uncomfortable FMA facts and the grim truth about its HIV/AIDS problem.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
Comments
I became HIV-positive in 2013
My son once had the problem
My son once had the problem
I’m Cedric Zene Appiah from
Breeze, where are your stats
"...tea head rant ?..." I'm
For crying out loud! Dirty or
You'll be sorrryy! Why rhe