could reverse the success niger has made in preserving one of africa's most natural wonders, al jazeera, natural reserve, niger. >> reporter: keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, al jazeera.com. >> i'm ali velshi. "on target" tonight. addicted in america, be critics claim these methods enable addicts but they could also save a lot of lives. ♪ ♪ >> president obama got another reminder of the urgency of dealing with america's heroin epidemic.

it came during a a meeting with the nation's governors where the subjects were terrorism, and the zika virus. national approach for cracking down on doctors who overprescribe be opioid medications like oxycontin. , getting looked on pain pills and look for a cheaper more powerful high. the governor's question was right on the money. now president said it would be better if governors first reach agreement on prescription limits before the issue reaches congress. but his answer also touched on a shift that's taking place in america's approach to dealing with drugs and addiction. here is what the president said. >> if we go to the doctors right now and say don't overprescribe without providing mechanisms for people in these communities to

deal with the pain that they have or the issues that they have, then we're not going to solve the problem. because the pain's real. the mental illness is real. the -- in some cases addiction is already there. in some cases you know these are underserved communities when it comes to number of doctors and temperatures and prors. practitioners. >> as a public health issue rather than a crack down on criminals. it is an approach that people in the drug treatment world call harm reduction. harm reduction includes needle exchange programs. needle exchanges are around since the 1980s and are used throughout the world. giving addicted people clean needles can help from spreading hiv and hepatitis c, but they

remain absolutely il illegal in some states. access to clean syringes have left needle exchange advocates fighting a modern day epidemic. >> okay so as you can see, i pulled out a couple of syringes. usually i start them out with ten. and then i would put them in the package. >> about once a week ordained pastor george gibson can be found at this miami storage unit prepping for his usual deliveries. >> this is for intravenous and this is for muscle. >> it is illegal for florida to distribute syringes. but he's done just that, he's made it his life's work. >> they have everything but two

things, the money and the dope. >> gibson runs the state's only underground needle exchange program. tonight he meets a heroin user called jason. he asks his real name not be used. people like jason make up gibson's clientele these days. reusing and sharing needles. >> after a while, using the same needles over and over again becomes very problematic because they become dull, the risk of disease is present whenever you're not using clean needles. >> this is a syringe that is completely unprotected at this point with a needle that's sticking out. >> head downtown and it doesn't take long to find a used syringe lying on the street. miami-dade county is in the midst of a heroin epidemic

that's becoming a public health emergency. home to over 10,000 10,000 injn drug users, a 1 in 5 has hiv, one in 10 has hepatitis c. >> so desperate they picked up a needle and used it. fighting to get a needle exchange program settle up in miami-dade county. >> we have the absence of any intervention to prevent disease so that's very dangerous in a city that has the highest rate of hiv in the country, one in every five people in miami have hiv. if they don't have clean syringes they're going to spread it to each other. >> needle exchange programs have been shown to reduce rates of hiv in jeks dru

in injection drug users. >> it's easy to have a skin or soft tissue infection, if the infections can progress they can enter the bone the bloodstream and the heart. those are the types of patients that die. >> a study of injection drug users at jackson memorial hospital showed these infections in one year alone led to 17 deaths. >> we're basically withholding a treatment known to prevent disease from a group of vulnerable people. that's not right, it's not right anywhere, not in the united states, not in miami. >> lifetime care for hiv could range $600,000 for a patient, $300,000 by hepatitis c. >> they get picked up by an ambulance, they are not paying with insurance.

they are on the taxpayer's dime. >> state senator oscar brayon has sponsored an injection policy in the area. one of the poorest most african american in the district. >> if you happen to have hep c or hiv that doesn't stop people from having children, having families. what you'll see, it's hard to have these children do well in schools. how can a kid take a test when they're from a system that's focused on trying to get the next high. >> the program would cost about $150,000, privately paid for and led by the university of miami. but brayan has faced the same

type of rejection. >> i still cannot bring myself to have the state put their stamp of approval on the use of illegal drugs. >> this concern about enabling drug addicts is the main reason they remain illegal in 25 states mostly in the south and the midwest. >> i don't want the state of florida to give them any encouragement to continue their habits. >> tewkes testified it is ultimately naive to think a lack of syringes would reduce drug use. >> they're going to use the heroin regardless whether they have to pick the syringe off the ground or whether it's a clean syringe. the best thing we can do when we get them into rehab and clean, that they don't have to live with a lifelong chronic illness like hiv or hepatitis. >> i would be using the same needles, if i were desperate

enough i may resort to using needles from someone else. >> and brayan says needle programs could help people become clean. >> 40% of the people that have come to these programs across the country have at some point gone to rehab. >> brayan's bill has already failed twice, and faces a tough house in a republican dominated state house but he remains determined osee it through. >> i don't know that they affect people at home. but this is one of those that i know will help people . until that day though, george gibson continues to risk arrest with his work. a life saved he says is worth more than the law. >> i believe in social justice,

i believe in civil disobedience, even if it is illegal with this i believe it's saving a person's life. a person answe's life is priceless. we can't wait on policy makers to say when there's approval. somebody has to do something and that somebody has to be me. >> that bill setting up a needle exchange program in miami is scheduled for next week. wait until you hear for this next plan to deal with drug addiction. some people say, be those looked on heroin, it's to give them a

>> america's heroin epidemic is taking a huge toll on life in communities around the country.

in an effort to combat the worst effects of addiction, authorities have turned to the softer side of battling drugs. hampl harm reduction, examples include needle exchange programs which we just saw but using needle exchange programs to address addiction in america is nothing compared to what some harm reduction advocates are proposing here in new york. they actually want to give addicts a safe place to use drugs. i went to see for myself whether this an important tool in fighting the heroin epidemic or whether it is a well meaning idea that just goes too far. >> what do you think? >> we're going over here right quick and then we're going to go down to the bottom. >> okay. >> walk a little with 52-year-old michael bailey, known to everyone as highway mike and he can show you a new york most people never see.

>> these are normal spots where we'll come to and where we use at. >> is it a hard city to find places to use? >> not really but you know what? a lot of times we want it secluded. we don't want to be around society. >> all around the city from parks like this to abandoned buildings and underpass he people are shooting up heroin. >> what's the danger of being out here alone? >> definitely, oding, if you don't know what you got, you don't do the taste test, if you just rush in there and do it. >> that's where you lived? >> that's where i lived at yeah. >> and that danger has led droves of drug users to search for a safer place to inject. it is an unspoken secret that they have feflt taken ove effectively taken over the bathrooms of-os like this.

evelyn is the director of voal vocal systems of new york. >> after they use they have their gloves. we don't condone drug use but people are going to use. we want them to be healthy and to be safe. >> there is a sign up sheet. each person gets only ten minutes. and a two way intercom lets milan check in periodically. >> hello you okay? >> eddie is a user who has injected heroin for most of his life. >> we used to go to shooting galleries staying away from the street. we go in there and play a dollar for works and a dollar for the place. we would shoot up and throw the needle back into the can and walk out. and i think that's how i caught

hep c. by the grace of god i didn't get infected with hiv-aids but my brother did. >> public injectors are four times more likely to reuse syringes and contract hiv and hepatitis c. overdouses from addicts have also been more common. >> we have reversed 60 overdoses since we opened. >> tyco frost. >> we know individuals in new york do not have a stable, sterile space to inject drugs. we have lost so many people to overdose. so many people, young people, wonderful people. artists, creatives, smart wonderful people that didn't need to die.

>> when those addicts od staff members are trained ogive moloxone known by its brand name narcan. it is a lifesaving drug that reverses the worst effects of heroin. but frost says it is a band-aid. >> it is not a solution to what's going on. >> in 2014, new york saw more deaths from heroin overdose than from homicide. and among drug users, those who inject in public places are twice as likely to od. driven by a fear of arrest or being discovered, they often rush their injections and increase odds for an overdose. that's why frost is leading a coalition of groupings a rad cam idea, aa place where addicts can

inject drugs safely opportunity supervision of health professionals. >> what we know, supervision facilities work,. >> can you find these in hundreds of places around manhattan. you can see i'm in the middle of a populated area, traffic everywhere but it's little secluded spots where people come to use their drugs with a safe injection facility, they have somewhere to go that's safe in the event they overdose. users would be provided clean needles and cubicles. about 100 injection facilities already exist worldwide. the lone north american location called insight operates out of vancouver. >> since its opening, 2 million injections have taken place there. that's 2 million injections out of the streets of our cities,

out of parks, out of railways, out of bathrooms and no one has died. those 2 mill injections have taken people off the streets and given them a chance to live for another day. >> mark thompson ,. >> the injection site is now something that 78% of people support. >> studies have shown that insight reduces injection injuries and reduces money in the long run. >> for every dollar invested you are saving $fowrd $4. >> an injection facility in new york is anything but an easy sell. >> not helping anybody in a way of getting clean and starting a new life. >> some charge the facility

would just enable drug users. 26-year-old ron iie hansen is in camelot counseling, a staten island treatment center. >> they are not helping themselves. they are just killing themselves. >> others like logan lewis say injection facilities fail to get to the root of drug abuse. >> like taking a person with a fever of 104 and sticking them in a bathtub of ice. will it get rid of the symptom? yes. will it cure the problem? of course not. you haven't gone to really address the underlying issue. >> lewis a former addict himself even questions whether users would seek out a facility. >> when you start to go through withdrawal because you want to get drug that you need, you want to get that into your system as quickly as possible. you don't have time to go look

for a site. >> but down 700 says research shows supervised injection facilities can in fact curb drug abuse. >> it de glamourizes drug abuse. 30% more likely to attend detox treatment. >> one new york city council member has already come out in support of supervised injection facility. but the city declined to consider the idea. still, highway mike says the day drug users finally have a safe place to inject can't come soon enough. >> rye anonymity we are in highbridge park off of 177th street and as a user we'll go down there and have all our equipment and where we have to use.

but if we're by ourself and something happened, that person wouldn't be found until the next person that happened to use happen to go that way or the smell or the stench. we are losing people behind the disease of addiction. coming up, a drug that could help save an addict's life but doesn't come without controversy.

♪ ♪

>> i'm talking tonight about how to tackle the new heroin epidemic that's killing tens of thousands of americans each year. in talking about safer places to use heroin i'm talking about the drug brand named narcan. it doesn't come without controversy. jacob ward reports from san francisco. >> who's this? >> that's my friend ariel. she and i were friends and worked together. >> how long ago did she pass? >> she died in 2005. and yeah. that's really hard. >> ee liz >> eliza wheeler runs the drug program in oakland. the work is very hard and very personal. >> we sat outside for a long time. she said i don't know what i'm doing, i'll get my stuff together.

you know just a blip you know. and she died that night. >> wheeler may not be able to get users into treatment but she can make sure they have access to a miracle drug maloxo thrvetione or narcan. a overdose causes the body to forget to breathe. narcan literally knocks opiates off the brain sobering the person up immediately. during 2013, the last year for which complete information is available about 16,000 people died of an overdose of prescription opioids like oxycodone, and about 8,000 died of heroin. in that year doorg according the a swea wheeler's group helped conduct, those 8,000 people would be dead as well. an anecdotal

experiment, the experience of administering it can inspire people to seek treatment. >> in clinics where maloxone is prescribed we've seen really dramatic reductions in overdose death, not just overdose death but reduction in 80 overdose events. maybe it is acting as a behavior change. >> the safest drug in the world, if a paramedic comes across someone who is unconscious, even giving them sugar water might kill them but nar con i narcan is safe to administer to then. you and me. >> he was really heavy, like okay this is bad so i luckily had narcan and i gave him the narcan, and he like wasn't work at first i gave him two doses

and then he came back and it was -- i don't know it was really terrifying. but he lived. >> we basically take the cap off, take the cap off here here. >> paramedics have traditionally administered narcan and police in 29 states now carry it as well. but according to wheeler's study drug users saved each other over 80% of the time. that's why wheeler says they must have narcan too. >> for me the priority has to get it into the hands of people who use drugs. they are the most likely people the witness an overdose. >> do you know how to use it? should i show you? >> yes show me. >> we equip people who are using drugs with life savoring tools to save themselves, to take care of each other as a community. that's really hard thing for mainstream america to wrap their minds around. >> patrick who uses heroin would be dead if he had to wait for an

officer or an emt he says. >> while i was in minneapolis i acquired some heroin that was basically a lot stronger than when i was in san francisco. i basically oded. i didn't have time to do anything, and my girlfriend luckily had the training in how to use narcan, had access to it, saw i was unconscious not breathing, and inserted narcan, you can do it through the nose which is how she did it and revived me in five to ten minutes. >> narcan doesn't necessarily mean that a drug yer user is going to act more responsibly. but nar scan instantaneous narcan is instantaneous, it can help addicts from dying. jacob ward, al jazeera, san

francisco. >> and that's our show for today. i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. into welcome to the news hour. here is what's coming up in the next 60 minister. a phone call that brought thousands of brazilians to the streets and is threatening the presentation deny see of dilma rousseff. as syria's warring sides attends to talks in geneva, we find out what is ahead for the fragmented opposition. african scandal