MNIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Inside a public bathroom, a young man prepares a needle with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid often mixed with heroin.
The whole process takes three minutes.
After he injects the drug, the man, who asked Local 10 News to call him Michael, steps out of the Stephen P. Clark Center in downtown Miami.
Despite a heavy police and security presence, the second floor bathroom at the headquarters of the Miami-Dade County government doubles as hotspot for heroin addicts to get their fix.
"I've used that location up to several times a day," Michael said about the bathroom just across the hall from the county Commission.
Michael estimates that dozens of people use the bathrooms daily and predicts that officials know of the activity.
He said the reason the bathrooms are used is simple: there are very few bathrooms open to the public downtown.
A recent incident report from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue tells the story of a man who was taken to the hospital after security found him unconscious with a needle in his hand inside one of the government center bathroom.
In May, Local 10 News reported on the growing number of deaths in the county from heroin usage. These deaths have doubles from 2014 to 2015 and fentanyl deaths jumped about 363 percent.
The medical examiner said the 2016 numbers are even higher.
Video from earlier this year shows authorities in Miami seizing drugs, including heroin and fentanyl, at Miami's international mail facility.
In July, on the same floor of the government center, people lined up to ask County Commissioners to fund solutions to the heroin problem.
Dr. Antonio Mesa, an assistant professor of clinical anesthesiology and neurology at the University of Miami, spoke to Local 10 News about the need to provide programs to address the underlying problems of addiction.
"It's a huge issue and it's actually getting worse. If we don't provide them a way out, they're just going to keep being addicted," he said.
The video of the drug use was shown to Lucia Davis-Raiford, who is the head of the county's Community Action and Human Services Department.
Upon seeing it, she said he was not surprised by usage.
"I am not surprised by anything I find as evidence of the human condition," Davis-Raiford said.
She said her office is aware of the growing opiate epidemic and has asked for a 13 percent increase in funding to help combat it. That translates to $5.5 million for rehab services, which are currently at capacity and have a waiting list.
"We want to get to the point where we're not just reactive and responsive, but that we're proactive and preventative, and we're not there yet," Davis-Raiford said.
Increasing security is a priority, according to the director for internal services, but for now there is a lack of funding.
Michael said there's no access to a public detox for opiates in the county, which is often a requirement for starting rehab.
Local 10 News contacted Jackson Health Services for several weeks to ask if they currently or have previously provided detox from opiates, but Local 10 never received a reply.
"It’s taken everything from me," Michael said. "I was married. I had a house. I have two kids."
These days, he's sleeping under a bridge.