MANATEE COUNTY – Congressman Vern Buchanan held a press conference Monday at Manatee Memorial Hospital with Attorney General Ashley Moody to discuss the opioid epidemic. Prior to a meeting with the Statewide Task Force on Opioid Abuse.
“The opioid epidemic continues to be a major health threat not only in Florida, where we continue to lose fifteen people a day but it is also a problem we struggle with nationally,” says Attorney General, Ashley Moody.
Moody also took a call of action to the people in Manatee County to continue fighting against this epidemic, where progress has already been made.
“They have come from being a county that did not have enough room in the morgue for all those that overdosed on these deadly drugs to fighting back with proactive and aggressive measures. And we saw some of the most significant drops in deaths,” says Moody.
One of the things that the task force is charged with is to examine the best practices around the state, to see what is working and more importantly to see what is not working and put together suggestions for the counties and areas that are still suffering from the effects of the opioid epidemic.
“I think the number was 74 deaths, last year in Manatee County, it’s the highest per capita in the state, we have made some good progress, but it’s kind of spiked back up again,” says Congressman, Vern Buchanan. “There’s a lot more work that needs to be done, and I look forward to all of us working together and having a real impact going forward.”