Pam Bondi: “I want to thank the President of the United States, Governor Christie and many others for caring about this deadly epidemic.”
News Talk Florida
James Williams
March 29, 2017
Bondi will serve on the new Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission to be chaired by Gov. Chris Christie
While in Washington to moderate women’s empowerment panel at the White House, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was named to a group who will take the lead on combatting drug abuse. The new group is called the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. It is a new group that was put together and will be overseen by President Donald Trump.
The commission will be chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and today at the White House Bondi had some early conversations about her duties when she sat with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, VA Secretary David Shulkin, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, Omarosa Manigault, and other administration officials.
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Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission
Attorney General Bondi Appointed to President’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission
Attorney General Pam Bondi is honored to be appointed to President Donald J. Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. As a member of the commission, Attorney General Bondi will work alongside national leaders in the opioid fight on drug prevention, interdiction and treatment strategies. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will chair the commission.
“I am honored to work alongside President Trump, Governor Christie and others to combat the national opioid crisis that is claiming thousands of American lives every year,” said Attorney General Bondi. “For more than two decades, first as a state prosecutor and now as Florida’s attorney general, I have fought drug abuse at the local and state level—with this appointment I will work with national leaders in this vital fight.”
In 2011, when Attorney General Bondi took office, seven Floridians were dying every day from prescription drug abuse, 98 of the top 100 oxycodone dispensers lived in Florida, and Florida was known as the Pill Mill Capital of the Country. Working with law enforcement and lawmakers, Attorney General Bondi took quick action to shut down pill mills and save lives. Today none of the top oxycodone dispensers live in Florida.
In 2012, Attorney General Bondi chaired the Prescription Drug Abuse and Newborn Task Force to raise awareness, improve reporting and identify policy recommendations regarding Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. NAS effects babies born drug exposed. The task force finished ahead of schedule with recommendations to raise awareness, increase reporting and improve treatment. The task force also worked with the legislature to secure millions of recurring dollars to treat expectant mothers addicted to drugs.
Since taking office, Attorney General Bondi has issued executive orders and worked with lawmakers to ban 136 of the most common chemical compounds used to produce deadly synthetic drugs. In 2016, Attorney General Bondi helped pass sweeping legislation to dramatically improve control over synthetic drugs.
For the 2017 legislative session, Attorney General Bondi is supporting legislation to add Fentanyl to Florida’s drug trafficking statute. Fentanyl is a deadly synthetic substance 50 times more powerful than heroin. Drug dealers commonly mix Fentanyl with other substances and sell it as heroin or a prescription painkiller—all too often resulting in drug abusers suffering fatal overdoses.
As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi has fought drug abuse for two decades. She is currently the Co-Chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Substance Abuse Committee. The appointment to the President’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission will allow her to work with other national leaders on drug prevention, interdiction, treatment and recovery strategies.
