fentanyl

The law could result in methamphetamine dealers facing a death sentence if drugs they distribute kills someone.

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.

Community activists blitzed beaches and warned spring breakers of a surge in recreational drugs cut with the dangerous synthetic opioid.

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.

A new wave of opioid deaths, fueled by fentanyl, is raising old fears in Palm Beach County. Meantime, sheriff's office policy on naloxone is an outlier in the state.

Drug-related deaths increased by 17% in 2020, and the Tampa Bay region suffered tremendously. The CEO of a Pinellas substance use treatment program said the trend is worrisome.

After a 26% increase in opioid overdoses in Florida over the previous year,. Project Opioid founder Andrae Bailey says the pandemic accelerated the real problem: the synthetic opioid fentanyl flooding the markets.

Overdose rates were on the rise before the COVID pandemic, but last year's lockdowns exacerbated the issue.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that overdose deaths last year increased nearly 30% across the country. In Florida, the rate increased more than 37%.

Experts say lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get.

Officials say the pandemic and dealers who mix fentanyl with other drugs have contributed to the increase in overdose deaths in Florida.