Michael Moline
Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced an initiative against Florida’s “opioid crisis” Tuesday, calling upon the Legislature to help with tougher penalties and cracking down on sham “sober houses.”
But Scott stopped short of declaring an opioid state of emergency.
“We fought the pill mills, but now our challenge is bigger than ever,” Bondi said, flanked by representatives of sheriffs’, police, and fire departments, plus the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in the state Capitol.
Scott said he has directed the departments of Children and Families, Health, and Law Enforcement to hold a series of workshops in Palm Beach, Duval, Manatee, and Orange counties to share ideas about how to combat the opioid epidemic and seek federal grants.
“We’re hearing from people all across the state with their ideas. The goal with this to try to organize those ideas, to see if we can find out exactly some things that we can do to have an impact,” Scott said.
Scott has announced states of emergency over the Zika virus, hurricanes, and wildfires, but didn’t directly answer why he hasn’t for the opioid problem.
Bondi did supply an answer. Zika, fires, even hurricanes are short-term emergencies, she said.
“This is a national, ongoing, long-term epidemic, and that’s why we’re going to tackle this from a national level.”
Bondi — recently appointed to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis — called upon lawmakers to add fentanyl and other synthetic drugs to the drug trafficking statute, and to require certification of “sober homes” — “horrible places,” she said, where “addicts are taken in under the guise of getting the rehab that they need and further addicted to drugs.”
Bondi announced a deal with pharmaceutical companies to supply Narcan and Miloxone at reduced prices to state and local agencies, community organizations, and public hospitals.
She said the problem mainly concerns illicit opioids — not pharmaceutical-grade drugs. But it takes a lab test to tell the difference.
“We know these drugs are coming into our country from Asia. It’s heroin coming in, it’s fentanyl coming in, and it’s carfentanil coming in. They’re all mixed together. They’re mixing heroin, and now — who would have ever thought of this — in a pill form,” she said.
“Five people dropped dead in a three-day period in Pinellas County, and it was a Xanax pill that they thought they were buying for a couple of dollars off the street. And I wouldn’t be surprised if these dealers were putting it in Adderall pills, because that’s the pill of choice now among college students,” Bondi said.
“Kids don’t get it. Twenty-something-year-olds don’t get it. A lot of adults don’t get it. If you take one of these pills, you could be addicted for life or drop dead, because you don’t know what’s in them,” she continued.
“You need to tell your kids, if someone offers them a Tylenol at school and they don’t know them, don’t take a pill from anyone who you don’t know. And never take a prescription pill from anyone but a physician.”
17 comments
Michael DeLeon
April 11, 2017 at 9:23 pm
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!! Do you get paid by Rick Scott and Pam Bondi for promotion? Do you understand what is REALLY happening here? Do you have ANY understanding of ADDICTION?????? This is not about the synthetics on our streets being pressed into pills. This is not about heroin. This is not about fentanyl and carfentanyl. THIS IS ABOUT ADDICTION!!!! As long as the Pharmaceutical Industry continues to run AMOCK, nothing will change. As long as we’re not willing to educate our kids and deal with their trauma, their inability to communicate, their struggles and fears, while we target them with vapes, desensitize them about alcohol, lie to them about marijuana and keep quiet about the explosion in teen suicides, we are just kidding ourselves!!! Florida Legislature has their heads in the sand. Governor Scott needs Family counseling because he can’t see the forest for the trees. Pam Bondi is a LIAR and doesn’t have a CLUE about anything beyond locking dealers up! Hey Pam… The DEALERS are wearing White Lab Coats!!!!
Linda Mautner
April 11, 2017 at 9:40 pm
I’m offended as to your comments here, making us all out to be horrible Parents. Your fertilizing “stigma” and “shame” that we, as Parents already feel, as well as our addicted children feel. My bright-eyed, 20 year old son, Ian, Sig Epsilon Brother of FSU, sent me a text one afternoon, while in active addiction: “do you think this is how I wanted my life to turn out, being an addict, losing my dreams”? We are good Parents, who educated our children, who tried to find appropriate treatment for them after they became addicted to substances, yet our insurance plans for the best facilities only paid 60% due to most being out of network, even with the best coverage. It is the State of Florida’s job, and our Nations job to educate “Physicians” on “their” “over-prescribing” practices and mandate the PDMP. It’s ok to take a pill with a prescription from a doctor?? I hope you’re joking here, though it would be highly inappropropiate to joke on any level with thousands of Parents who are losing their children daily to this disease. What is wrong with you people and how dare you to bury your heads in the sand over this catastrophic plague that has seized our Nation and particularly, while you turn your backs on our children on the street dying for lack of your declaration to provide proper healthcare and treatment by declaring Florida in a state of emergency, in the face of this Public Health Crisis. Shame on you both! I said this when you, Pam Bondi, ignored my education towards you regarding kratom. You promised me personally, during your campaign rally in West Palm Beach that you would address this issue and you turned your back on my grief and loss, as if my son, a precious human life meant nothing. I also want to address Governor Scott. Thank you so much for ignoring the flood of emails from Members of Soitheast Florida Recovery Advocates, our local officials, and the many Parents. I would like for you to know, we aren’t going away, in fact, your attempts to turn your back on us, have actually spawned more cohesiveness on community and governmental levels in South Florida and we are currently growing larger in numbers. I hope you both sleep well at night… as the blood of our children is on your hands.
Sharon Blair
April 11, 2017 at 10:29 pm
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/1336
Lawmakers need to make the opioid/heroin crisis a priority. I am the Founder of- The Jennifer Act (2016) Senate Bill 1336 (Authored by Senator Jack Latvala). This bill would make improvements to the Involuntary/Civil Commitment process and aid those addicted with detox and treatment services. My daughter died in Pinellas County, Largo, Florida. I filed 5 Marchman Act petitions to save her life. She fell through the cracks of the system. This bill needs support and to be made a priority, especially with the critical issues of overdose deaths on the rise in Florida. Governor Scott needs to understand this is a state of emergency. Attorney General needs to put more focus and attention on this issue. My website: http://www.thejenniferact.com
Janice Burnett
April 12, 2017 at 2:41 pm
AMEN! It started with Perdue Pharmaceutical in Indiana! The moseyed its way through the FDA! Who’s political pockets were lined during that transaction. THIS IS EPIDEMIC AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH!
Beverly Boggs
April 11, 2017 at 10:39 pm
Something needs to be done about this drug epidemic going on. Too many people are dying and it’s time the government stepped in and did something. You should care about your constituents.
Gaynelle Gosselin
April 11, 2017 at 10:48 pm
The response from Gov. Scott is unacceptable. The mortality rate in Florida exceeds 10 people a day. In Palm Beach County alone, there were nearly 600 deaths in 2016. Mass casualties merit the declaration of a Public Health Emergency, yet Gov. Scott deliberately stalls and continues to kick the problem to DCF which has no power or authority to address a health crisis, while Pam Bondi makes assinine statements about not taking medicines that are not prescribed to you. Declaring a public emergency would put resources where they are needed. We do not need workshops and more talk. Palm Beach County’s Heroin Task Force and Sober Home Task Force have been working diligently toward finding solutions. They have given reports to the state. We should not have to beg for the declaration of a Public Health Emergency. We know what is needed. Access to evidence based treatment, recovery support for patients and their families, harm reduction services, prevention services, community wide education, and reform in prescribing practices are all necessary to combat this problem. What we don’t need is more posturing from our public servants.
Ellen
April 11, 2017 at 11:03 pm
This seems like a rather tepid political response to what is by all accounts a raging epidemic. A lot of what they’re talking about has already been done by county governments that are buckling under the body count. What about better access to treatment for those who are already sick with this disease? What about better access medication assisted therapy? What about harm reduction? Saying you’re going to “fight” by cracking down on Chinese imports and bad sober houses is all well and good but it sounds lot like “war on drugs” rhetoric and we already know that was an abysmal failure. There are thousands out there who are already sick, suffering and dying and that is the larger problem. Where is the help for them? There is an elephant in the room and it isn’t going to go quietly.
Shelia Adams
April 11, 2017 at 11:40 pm
As a mother of an addict, retiree of the Department of Children and Families after 34 years, and current Volunteer with the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program in the Tenth Judiicial Circuit. I would like to be considered for an appointment to this commission. I believe I would bring several unique perspectives, thoughts and recommendations that would be of vital assistance in this fight that is causing more lost lives than any other cause of death in our state or country. I would also be interested in an appointment to President Trump’s National Commission. Please forward to decision makers or let me know how.
Sandy Harding
April 12, 2017 at 7:39 am
I am sorry to inform both you and Governer Scott, but you are not seeing the bigger picture here. Addiction and overdose are taking more lives than car accidents, Zika virus and forest fires, collectively. I will never hear my son Elliots voice, feel his touch, or look into his eyes again because when he was 20 years old in 2012, he died from an overdose. My 30 year old son has been struggling with addiction for 11 years. I am a wonderful, loving mother. My husband and I never did or do drugs… we warned our children about the dangers of drugs ad infinitum, but I’m not here to defend my parental skills or what YOU THINK is a lack of them. I am writing here to let you know how ridiculous your theories are, as what we should do to overcome this current health crisis. Please tell me how “workshops” will save these beautiful struggling souls. I don’t like to make assumptions, but it appears that neither you or the governer have had any “real” experience or education about addiction. This is not your fault, and I hope that personally you never have to know, but there is much evidence that an entire generation is dying, and nothing is being done about this from a governmental standpoint.
I suggest that you both take a ride-along with an EMT on any particular weekend in any county of your choosing. Perhaps that will give you some idea of why “action” needs to happen. Every day that we do “nothing”, hundreds are dying. A person would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to realize this.
HELP US!
Sheri Clarry
April 12, 2017 at 8:27 am
I know you know we are in an EPIDEMIC. To ignore the stats is criminal!!
You know the rates in Florida counties…& your ignoring due to big money!!! When will justice prevail over the BIG MONEY MONGERS… when ? Oh possibly when you are directly affected?? You have talked to many mothers who are left with their hands tied due to your refusing to addresss the Truth!!
SHAME SHAME SHAME!
Never forget we are (After death of our children due to #BigPharma)WARRIOR MOMAS WHO WILL NEVER FORGET YOUR BLIND EYE!☠️☠️☠️☠️
Maureen Kielian
April 12, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Please review the still unanswered letter to the FL Surgeon General, Celeste Philip MD and to Governor Rick Scott from SEFRA. Why have we not received an answer?
Also, yesterday’s press conference was not only a disaster, but highly insulting to 100’s of 1,000’s of Floridians. Conducting a press conference about the opioid epidemic without the medical community is a clear display the need for addiction education at every level of our government. This is a HEALTH emergency and nothing less. Until the medical community steps up to the plate, the morbidity and mortality will rage on. More talk about this problem, that includes ongoing legally prescribed opioids, will do nothing. We have had Task Forces, Coalitions, Grand Jury Reports for the past 3 years or more. We need ACTION from the recommendations and we need action now! Calling this what it is, a public health emergency is the right thing to do.
In addition, please explain to me why a Medicare patient arriving at the ER with an opioid overdose and/or withdraw gets “admitted” but a 35 year arriving with an opioid overdose and/or withdraw does not? We need our hospital industry to answer that question and ensure the public that JCAHO standards are being met, Mental Health Parity is being met, and the Patient Bill of Rights is being met for ALL patients.
The mission of the FL DOH: “The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote & improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, & community efforts.” Please notice that this says ALL patients. It does not exclude Floridians suffering from an addictive illness. It says ALL patients! Yet, our government leaders, as evidenced by the press conference yesterday, continue to jeopardize the health and safety of millions of Floridians suffering from an addictive illness. Law enforcement does not TREAT health maladies. The medical community does. Allowing the medical community to remain in prejudicial treatment standards is absolutely unacceptable to the people of Florida and should be unacceptable to ALL elected or appointed officials.
Kristine Braunstein
April 12, 2017 at 12:21 pm
Shame on both of you. At least educate yourselves. I never once heard you utter the word ADDICTION. Enough talk….we need help. Not law enforcement help, but help with addicts. Detox, rehab with LONGER time. Help. No more talk!
Donna D'Amico
April 12, 2017 at 12:45 pm
This is absolutely absurd. We have an epidemic killing thousands. Workshops are an absolute joke. We need a state of emergency declared immediately!
Donna Bowles
April 12, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Governor Scott and Attorney General Bondi, the State of Florida is in the grips of a Mental Health/Substance Use Disorder Epidemic. The time for workshops has long since passed. The “Just Say No” program, used in the 80s and 90s-failed, the War on Drugs-failed, attempting to incarcerate our way out of a medical crisis has…and will fail again, to treat a medical crisis as a law enforcement issue will, once again, fail. 4 of 5 people using heroin today report their problem with opioids began in their Primary Care doctors office with a prescription for Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, Percocets and/or the infamous Oxycontin. In the 80s and 90s with HMOs and PPOs came the chain Doctors offices. Those chain doctors offices, such as Gov. Scott’s very own Solantic, gave way to doctors conveniently treating patients for minor emergencies most often concluding with a prescription for opiates, and absolutely no warning of how quickly addiction can occur. Nor did these doctors offer any counseling of what to do when the patient finds himself addicted. As patients began to find themselves addicted to these minor emergency quick fixes, the doctors did not offer help, they refilled the prescription, collected their $75-$100 and sent the patient on their way. All this led to the beginning of pill mills. When the pill mills were finally shut down the heroin dealers were ready and waiting. These people did not Choose to become addicts. I know many loved ones that fell victim to this very cycle of use, abuse, and addiction. Some of my loved ones were fortunate enough to be able to afford evidence based medication assisted treatment. But many cant afford MAT and would prefer an abstinence based 12 Step Program but find no available beds, exhorbitant fees, annd months of waiting lists. The case is much worse for the many working uninsured or underinsured. When an addict finally reaches the point of asking for help, we MUST have beds ready and available! Long term Treatment and MAT must be made available to our loved ones who so desperately need help. We are losing more to this epidemic than car crashes, ZIKA, hurricanes and wildfires combined. Do the right and honorable thing…make safe, evidence based MAT and residential treatment available to those Floridians so desperately in need!
Susan Powell
April 12, 2017 at 2:44 pm
To add one more thought..follow Governor Hogans example….work on your dysfunctional criminal justice system..releasing those over sentenced by mandatory minimums non violent offenders..thereby freeing up funds for those in need of treatment..Florida is need of reform!!
Heidi Houle
April 12, 2017 at 7:03 pm
Governor Scott and AG Bondi, you showed you have No Idea what is going on in your own state!! Yes, this is a nationwide Epidemic but other states have stepped up and are acknowledging so many things need to change. Holding focus groups? That is assenine, we need boots on the ground talking to the parents of these kids we are losing at such an alarming rate. You yourselves need to get out in the communities and personally get involved!! Our hospitals our treating these kids like trash and throwing them back on the street instead of having a team in each ER specifically there to offer support and give these kids a plan of action, and before you shut that down, I’m sure with the thousands of us parents we could get plenty of volunteers to take shifts because these lives MATTER! We need safety shelters where kids can go to get evaluated on what treatment they need!! We need narcan in EVERY PHARMACY and available at low cost to us the parents who are willing to help anyone who has overdosed the timely help they need! We need the justice department to have places for the inmates to go when they are released instead of throwing to the streets with nothing, knowing that many will surely not make it. PDMP needs to be mandatory in every physician’s office, pharmacy, and hospital and records should be checked to make sure they are all following the proper guidelines. We need community education, police departments and citizens working together to talk to our young children and let them know it’s ok to come forward if they need help. We also need a Governor and AG that don’t fuel the stigma and shame honest, loving, hardworking parents!! It takes a village to raise a child, to save a child. All it takes is a few village idiots to kill thousands more!!! Stop letting the Pharmaceutical companies poison your mind and line your pockets, DO YOUR JOB FOR THE PEOPLE OF FLORIDA. OR ON NOVEMBER 6TH 2018 WE WILL DO OURS. If addiction truly touched your lives, your children’s lives then you would already Declared A State Of Emergency.
Marie Atkins
April 12, 2017 at 8:04 pm
Please do something real to save my son before he dies from “the disease of addiction”! This is an epidemic and a “workshop” will not save him. Educate yourself, it can happen to a member of your family. My heart goes out to the thousands and thousands and thousands who have already lost their somebody. Addicts are not bad prople, Addicts are sick people.
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