Manatee County’s Anti-Heroin Battle May Get Federal Boost

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Manatee County leads the state in the number of heroin-related deaths per capita. That’s a distinction U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan would like to see changed. To that end, he’s asking the federal government to inject some money into the county’s continued battle against the drug’s use.

“Federal funds will provide critical support for our local health care providers and law enforcement officials who are on the front lines of fighting this outbreak,” Buchanan wrote in a letter to National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli and Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “With these resources, addiction treatment centers, law enforcement agencies, and medical professionals can expand their efforts to help treat those already addicted and address the flow of opioids and heroin flowing into Manatee County.”

Buchanan has not said how much money he’d like to see directed toward Manatee County’s fight against heroin. The money would come from recent federal legislation passed to provide “enhancement grants” to areas suffering from drug abuse problems related to heroin, prescription pill and methamphetamine use.

In Florida overall, heroin overdose deaths increased 900 percent between 2010 and 2014, Buchanan said. Manatee County specifically has seen its overdose-related calls to law enforcement double over the past few months.

See also:

• Heroin Overdoses Up in Florida

Reducing the numbers is an “urgent public health issue,” Buchanan wrote in his letter.

“The heroin epidemic has inflicted physical and mental harm to countless children of drug-addicted parents,” he wrote. “In fact, drug abuse among parents is a major reason why so many children are placed in foster care.”

Buchanan’s letter was sent to Burwell and Botticelli Monday. It is unclear how soon, if at all, federal funds will be made available for Manatee County.

Heroin-related calls are also up in nearby Sarasota County. The sheriff’s office there recently released a warning following 14 heroin-related overdoses and two deaths over a two-week period.

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