University of Miami and Human Rights Watch Announce New Distribution Program for Anti-Overdose Drug

University of Miami physicians and top public health experts from UM’s groundbreaking needle exchange center (Miami’s IDEA Exchange) announced a new program to distribute the anti-overdose drug naloxone (Narcan) to local substance users.

Felicia Knaul, Ph.D., Hansel Tookes, M.D., M.P.H., and Megan McLemore of Human Rights Watch (third through fifth from left), with donors and volunteers.

The April 27 announcement was made in collaboration with the human rights group, Human Rights Watch, which also released its detailed 2017 report, “A Second Chance: Overdose Prevention, Naloxone, and Human Rights in the United States.”

“There is no question that our University, as a part of this community, is dedicated to making sure that this epidemic stops being an epidemic, which is actually the definition of public health,” said Felicia Knaul, Ph.D., professor of public health sciences and Director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas.

“To end this as an epidemic is our goal,” said Knaul, an international health economist, expert in Latin American health systems, and the wife of University of Miami President Julio Frenk. “There’s no question that we require, here in Miami, innovative responses to be able to support those in need like the IDEA Exchange.”

Joined by local law enforcement and other prominent community advocates, speakers from diverse backgrounds passionately shed light on the opioid epidemic in Miami-Dade County and hailed the distribution of naloxone directly to users at the needle exchange as a necessity for reducing overdose deaths.

“We began our journey on a quest for providing clean syringes to protect substance users from HIV and other harmful infections,” said Hansel Tookes, M.D., M.P.H., an internal medicine resident with Jackson Health System and the University of Miami. “Today, we’ve added yet another weapon in our fight to save the lives of vulnerable members of our community.”

Tookes spearheaded the years-long effort to get state passage of the Infectious Disease Elimination Act, for which the center is named. “We’ve come a long way,” he said. “I would like to express my deepest gratitude for all the donors, community players and legislators who made the IDEA Exchange a reality.”

In its 48-page report released along with a video, Human Rights Watch provides a comprehensive look at the nation’s opioid epidemic and documents numerous obstacles to accessing naloxone. In 2016, the HRW says, more than 33,000 people died from accidental drug overdoses involving opioids, such as prescription pain medications, heroin, and fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. In Florida, between 2013 and 2015, 8,336 people died of drug overdose. In 2015, the rate of death from overdose in Florida rose 22 percent, one of the highest increases in the nation.

“Overdose is preventable,” said Megan McLemore, a senior researcher with HRW who spoke at the news conference. “Naloxone should be readily available even over the counter. People who use drugs have the right to overdose prevention and UM is achieving that goal.”

The group lauded the IDEA Exchange as a model program for delivering critical health services, including naloxone, to substance users.

As Florida’s first and only public clean syringe program, the IDEA Exchange has provided services for more than 200 people since opening in December 2016. Additionally, it has collected 20,000 dirty needles from the streets in exchange for clean ones, conducted nearly 200 tests for HIV and Hepatitis C, and connected more than 20 people to drug treatment programs.

Following the press announcement, outreach workers demonstrated how naloxone is administered. The IDEA Exchange also unveiled its new mobile van that will soon deliver critical syringe exchange services and naloxone to communities throughout Miami-Dade County.

Speakers included Maria Alcaide, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine

at the Miller School of Medicine; Joy Fishman, a program donor, mother of

an overdose victim and wife of Narcan creator Jack Fishman; James Bernat, a senior executive assistant in the City of Miami Police Department, who was accompanied by law enforcement officers; Carlos Franco, a former substance user turned advocate and volunteer at the IDEA Exchange; and IDEA Exchange researcher Carlos Padron and outreach coordinator Emelina Martinez.

Several donors attended to show their support. The IDEA Exchange is funded by Anthem, which provided funding directly for the overdose prevention program, the MAC AIDS Fund, Elton John AIDS Foundation, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Comer Family Foundation, Gilead, Health Foundation of South Florida, individual donors and AIDS United. Other supporters, who provided testing supplies and syringes, include South Florida Behavioral Health Network and the North American Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN).

Tags: Hansel Tookes, Miller School of Medicine, Naloxone (Narcan), needle exchange, substance abuse, University of Miami