(The Center Square) – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and law enforcement leaders are warning Floridians about the dangers of the lethal drug.
They sounded the alarm again on Monday at the Pasco County Emergency Operations Center in New Port Richey, one of the hardest hit regions of the state. In Pasco and Pinellas counties, the greatest number of total deaths, 374, were reported from fentanyl poisonings, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s newly released 2022 Florida Medical Examiners Interim Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons report.
Monday was National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day.
Earlier this month, Moody sounded the alarm about the highest per capita opioid death rate occurring in four panhandle counties of Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton, which was double the state’s average rate.
The report found that in Pasco and Pinellas counties, there were nearly 100 more deaths than in neighboring Jacksonville. Total fentanyl deaths increased in the two counties by 33% from 2020 to 2022.
“The nation’s drug overdose death rate continues to skyrocket because of the massive influx of illicit fentanyl into our country,” Moody said. “Sadly, Florida is not immune to this deadly crisis.”
In addition to meeting with local officials, Moody was joined by James Raugh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, and Kevin Roy, chief public policy officer of Shatterproof, a national nonprofit organization focused on reversing the addiction crisis. Shatterproof developed Treatment Atlas, a free-to-the-public, nonprofit platform available in Florida and 11 other states, which Moody publicized last year. It provides users with the ability to locate and compare addiction treatment facilities for substance use disorders.
Ruah said that “illicit fentanyl needs to be treated like the Weapon of Mass Destruction it is. Until this scourge has been defeated, we need to make every day ‘National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day.”
Roy said, “Fentanyl in our country is a multi-dimensional problem: a national security, law enforcement and public health challenge that requires a multi-dimensional solution spanning foreign policy, homeland security, and public health, while developing a deeper understanding of demand for the substances.”
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is roughly 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. “It is inexpensive, widely available, highly addictive, and comes in a variety of colors, shapes and forms – including powder and pills,” the DEA says. “Drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs to drive addiction and create repeat business. Many victims of fentanyl poisoning were unaware they ingested fentanyl.”
According to the CDC, an estimated 110,511 people died from drug overdoses and poisonings in the U.S in 2022. Nearly 70% of the deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose.
Border Patrol agents this fiscal year alone have seized enough illicit drugs, including fentanyl, to kill over 6 billion people. In 2022, DEA agents seized nearly 387.9 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl. Texas Operation Lone Star officers have seized enough fentanyl in the last 2.5 years to kill more than the entire population of the U.S.
Last fall, the DEA also issued a public safety alert warning Americans of a “sharp nationwide increase in the lethality of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills.” Six of 10 fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills its experts analyzed in 2022 contained a potentially lethal dose, the DEA said, an increase from 4 out of 10 pills tested last year.
Earlier this year, Families Against Fentanyl released a report showing that children under age 14 were dying from fentanyl poisoning at faster rate than any other age group. Fentanyl poisoning remains the number one cause of death for adults in the U.S. between the ages of 18-45.
To help educate Floridians and Americans, AG Moody’s DoseOfRealityFL.com website provides a range of information about opioid misuse as well as resources and tools including the Treatment ATLAS tool.
Moody has also called on the president more than once to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. She’s also led a coalition of 18 attorneys general calling for the designation.
“Treating this solely as a narcotics control problem has failed to curb the proliferation of increasing quantities of chemicals that can cause a mass casualty event,” the AGs argued.
“We must not sit idly by until a terrorist chooses to inflict harm using this substance on a large group of Americans – our countrymen are already dying from this poison. We cannot wait for tragedy to strike when proactive steps can be taken now to preserve American lives.”
They never received a response.
