Ban on nonprescription needles may be lifted

A decades-old ban on the sale of nonprescription syringes could be ending in Broward County.

The ban was put in place in 1970 to combat illegal drug use, but county commissioners say it’s time to rethink the restriction.

They are concerned the ban is increasing the spread of diseases such as HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis C as users share dirty needles, a problem that could be exacerbated by the ongoing opioid epidemic.

“The reason why people are reusing dirty needles is because they cannot get clean needles without a prescription,” Broward Mayor Barbara Sharief said. “So if we want to curtail that problem, then we’re going to have to be part of that solution.”

While the law was originally enacted to discourage illegal drug use, banning the nonprescripition sale of needles led to other problems, she said.

“Not only is the drug use continuing, but there are consequences to it, which are HIV and AIDS,” she said.

In addition, the ban has kept Broward visitors with medical conditions requiring injections of prescription drugs from being able to get the syringes locally if they forgot theirs at home.

Commissioners have asked staff to prepare an ordinance for future consideration that would repeal the ban.

“That’s fantastic,” said Justin Kunzelman, a former drug user who now does peer counseling in Palm Beach County. “There’s no evidence to support the claims that making this ‘paraphernalia’ illegal will hinder drug use.”

What a ban may do is lead to more illness, he said. “We see an increase in deaths due to diseases that are directly attributable to non-sterile syringe use,” Kunzelman said.

Palm Beach County passed a similar ban in 1982, but repealed it two years later. Miami-Dade County, with a prohibition as old as the one in Broward County, still has its law in place.

Miami-Dade does have a clean-needle exchange program run out of the University of Miami that was authorized by state legislators last year. Palm Beach County officials are now seeking to have that program expanded into their county. Sharief said she would be interested in having a similar program in Broward.

There has been a significant rise in South Florida in heroin and opioid deaths and officials are concerned intravenous drug use could spread disease without a needle-exchange program.