Florida for IDEA

I know it's been a long time since we first organised. But...congratulations. We did it!!!

What would you do if a natural disaster left you without any resources?

They were opioid addicts on their way to recovery. Then the hurricane hit. What it’s like when you miss a methadone dose due to natural disaster.

"...But after her mother, Elizabeth, became hooked on pain pills due to back pain, life as Ciara once knew it rapidly changed. The electricity would be disconnected. The water was shut off. Money would disappear. The family — Elizabeth, her boyfriend, Ciara and Ciara’s younger sister — began to move from place to place."

"Substance abuse played a role in two-thirds of the cases where children were removed from their homes within 30 days of birth last year.

And there’s been a 38 percent increase in the number of children under the age of 5 who have been removed from homes because of substance abuse in the past four years."

Children become collateral damage in Florida opioid crisis With a 35 percent jump in opioid-related deaths in 2016, legislators are considering a variety of options to stop the spread of drug addiction and to keep patients from getting hooked on prescription medicines that can lead to the use of even more lethal street drugs, such as he**in and fentanyl.

Did you know it’s Dr. Hansel Tookes day on Miami Beach? What an honor! Thank you, Commissioner Samuelian, Mayor Gelber and the entire commission.

And thank you Hansel Tookes for all the hard work you do! Words can not express how grateful we are for your efforts in bringing light during this time of crisis. Keep up the good work!

Statewide decriminalization did not pass this week. However, IDEA is expanding by 3 counties. Baby steps. Next year we win!

Needle exchange program could expand in South Florida A House committee tagged on an amendment that limited the expansion of a Miami-Dade needle exchange program to Broward and Palm Beach counties and limited the operation of the program to the University of Miami.

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article199770984.html

Statewide needle-exchange program will save lives of opioid-addicted Floridians There have been 387 lives saved from opioid overdoses since IDEA began distributing naloxone last April.

Medication-assisted therapy is becoming more and more accepted by the medical community. Sadly, the stigma surrounding medication-assisted treatment options, and abstinence only models, are hurting families and perpetuating the disease of addiction to flourish. What do you think?

Opinion | The Wrong Way to Treat Opioid Addiction Buprenorphine and methadone are the most effective treatments for fighting opioid addiction. But most rehabilitation programs won’t use them.

http://wlrn.org/post/most-pro-life-thing-hiv-activists-push-expand-miamis-needle-exchange-statewide

Share widely, Facebook fam, and contact your legislators. We must make a meaningful response to the opioid epidemic. And that starts with IDEA Florida (HB 579/SB 800) 💉 Please call Chair Grant 850-717-5064 and Chair Young 850-487-5018 and ask them to hear HB 579/SB 800.

'The Most Pro-Life Thing:' HIV Activists Push To Expand Miami's Needle Exchange Statewide On a recent Tuesday morning, Emy Martinez walked around a couple of blocks in Overtown, looking for used needles to deposit in the sharps container in her

This program needs more support. Take a moment to sign the petition.

URGENT - Save Orange County Needle Exchange Program (OCNEP)! We're requesting 55 seconds of your time today to save harm reduction in Orange County. OCNEP operates in Santa Ana, which has the second highest rate overdose due to opioids & a rate of new HIV infections that is 2.5 times higher than the rest of the county. OCNEP has only 3 more Saturday shifts...

Fentanyl has been in Florida for a while. It has just never been targeted at this audience before.
If you need a fentanyl testing kit, contact Dancesafe Florida.
In the Tampa Bay area, Safe Exchange Tampa has Narcan kits free of charge to reverse overdose.
In Miami, IDEA exchange has Narcan giveaways as well.

DEA: Deadly contaminated co***ne widespread in Florida The Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning Friday over a deadly synthetic co***ne that has become widespread in Florida.

IDEA exchange in Miami is making great strides in harm reduction. Lives are being saved. This team is leading by example. Please like and share!

We are up against two important laws that need to pass for syringe exchange programs to operate in Florida. These bills were filed early November 2017. They pertain to laws that currently prohibit clean syringes from being dispensed, and therefore, dirty sharps being collected and disposed of properly. We are in the process of lobbying referrals for them in Tallahassee. Here are the links to view the bills yourself.

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/00800

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/00579

Senate Bill 800 (2018) - The Florida Senate Infectious Disease Elimination Pilot Programs; Citing this act as the “Florida Infectious Disease Elimination Act (IDEA)”; authorizing the Department of Health to establish sterile needle and syringe exchange pilot programs upon request from eligible entities, rather than a single program establ...