Drug-addiction experts in February pitched Miami-Dade County leaders a plan to tackle the alarming rise in deaths related to overdoses from heroin and fentanyl, an even more powerful opiate that has flooded the streets of South Florida.
With a budget of about a quarter million dollars a year, Nova Southeastern University epidemiologist James Hall and Miami-based drug-addiction interventionist John Schmidt recently told FloridaBulldog.org, Miami-Dade could begin to mimic the success of private organizations and government agencies in Broward County that worked together to clamp down on flakka, a synthetic stimulant that also has been causing an unusually high number of overdoses and deaths in recent years.
“That strategy has been very effective,” Hall said. “It basically eliminated flakka from the streets of Fort Lauderdale. It was the result of a united community effort crossing many domains at the local, state and federal level.”
[vc_btn title=”More on drug addiction death prevention” style=”outline” color=”primary” size=”lg” align=”left” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.floridabulldog.org%2F2016%2F05%2F12624%2F|title:More%20on%20drug%20addiction%20intervention%20program|target:%20_blank”][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”turquoise”]By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, May 5, 2016 [/vc_message]
