PUNTA GORDA, Fla.—Florida is to get a new program targeted at suppressing the state’s rising death toll associated with fentanyl overdoses.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the statewide initiative at an Aug. 3 news conference in Brevard County in which he said fentanyl “ruins lives” and has infiltrated “other substances” that have led to a number of deaths.
“Fentanyl overdoses make up 70 percent of all overdoses in Florida,” the governor said.
Florida’s government will take a model from Palm Beach County that has been successfully used to curb addiction and expand it to 12 additional counties.
The new addiction program—Coordinated Opioid Recovery (CORE)—will use a three-prong approach to recovery that “focuses on long-term treatment,” the governor said….