Opioid Overdoses

Hillsborough health officials offered up to five free boxes to people who stopped by tables set up outside their downtown Tampa office’s entrance.

Illegal supplies of fentanyl are being cut with xylazine, a powerful horse tranquilizer. Overdoses involving this veterinary sedative are growing nationally and now Florida officials are tracking the deaths.

The researchers found that between 2020 and 2022, the percentage of overdose deaths with evidence of smoking rose 74%. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths with evidence of injection fell 29%.

As national distributors and pharmacies restricted the flow of painkillers in response to the opioid crisis, Publix did the opposite, according to a Tampa Bay Times/KFF Health News data analysis.

For the first time in 10 years, Central Florida counties saw a decrease in opioid overdose deaths.

The plan is for health departments in all 67 counties to have kits with two Narcan nasal sprays that can be administered without a health care provider.

Families in Palm Beach County hoped protesting would convince Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to equip his deputies with Narcan. Their pleas haven't worked — until now.

Overdoses linked to fentanyl are rising exponentially in Florida, according to the state department of health. Doctors say the epidemic is now disproportionately affecting people of color.

These steps follow recent deaths in Gadsden County from fentanyl overdoses that prompted first lady Casey DeSantis to call for a meeting to work out strategies to promote increased awareness.

The Florida Legislature balked this year at a bill that would decriminalize fentanyl test devices, which remain illegal in about half of the states under drug paraphernalia laws adopted decades ago, drug policy experts say.

The order targeted drugs known as nitazenes, which Moody’s office said have been linked since 2022 to at least 15 deaths in Florida, including five reported by the Pasco-Pinellas medical examiner.

In statehouses across the country, lawmakers have been considering and adopting laws on two fronts: reducing the risk to users and increasing the penalties for dealing fentanyl or mixing it with other drugs.