ICYMI: Sun Sentinel: Fighting national opioid epidemic will take united front

Pam Bondi: “An estimated 144 Americans die each day from drug overdoses. Many of them are Floridians.”
Sun Sentinel
March 30, 2017
Our nation is in the grip of a deadly opioid epidemic.
An estimated 144 Americans die each day from drug overdoses. Many of them are Floridians.
The statistics are staggering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2015 more than 33,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdoses. More than 3,000 of those deaths occurred in Florida.
This epidemic must stop.
Running for attorney general in 2010, I heard countless stories from parents of deceased teens who overdosed and died after taking prescription drugs.
By the time I took office in 2011, the state was in a full-blown pill mill crisis. Ninety-eight of the top 100 oxycodone dispensers lived in Florida. Our state was known nationwide as the pill mill capital of the country.
The Florida legislature is considering cutting $50 million from mental health funding and the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board discuss how it can affect the state.
Something had to be done.
To view the full column from Attorney General Bondi, click here.