WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Putting drug dealers behind bars with maximum penalties.
On Tuesday, Governor Rick Scott held a ceremonial bill signing at The Palm Beach County Jail.
The visit to the jail comes on the heels of Governor Scott declaring a statewide public health emergency.
And Florida is poised to get millions of federal grant dollars to fight the epidemic.
The new law also sets up a minimum three-year sentence for anyone caught with at least four grams of fentanyl.
Meanwhile, Palm Beach County is considering legal action that many small municipalities and states have already used in the war on drugs: Filing a lawsuit against prescription drug companies.
The Palm Beach County Commission ordered the county legal dept. to prepare a report– looking at the possibility of suing. Lawsuits are being filed nationwide — taking on certain pharmaceuticals — much in the way America took on big tobacco in the 90’s.
“We used legislation and litigation on big tobacco and look what it did,” said Marcel Fort.
Fort is a counselor and he has seen people from all walks of life become addicted to pain medication like oxycodone.
“I have been working in this field for 15 years and I saw the storm coming– I was there. When people were coming in, not your usual addicts, they had an injury, they went to a doctor, trusting the doctor would treat them right, and the doctors started pushing pain medications that were outrageous for what they had,” Fort said.
Fort is encouraged that the county’s commission is looking at legal action against drug-makers.
More than 20 governments– on state, county, and local levels– have filed civil cases against manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies which they claim are adding fuel to the fire in the opioid crisis.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Dave Kerner is a lawyer by trade and he says these are desperate times and he supports the county taking this measure. Kerner hopes when the legal department comes back with their report, commissioners will put this to a vote– and vote to sue.
“We intend to move on this quickly if the political willpower is there,” Kerner said.
In Palm Beach County, opioid overdose deaths almost quadrupled in the past five years, going from 143 in 2012 to 569 in 2016.
Marcel Fort says for some people it might be easy to dismiss these numbers, if they are personally not affected, but he says, there could be an addict in your immediate circle of friends or family, and you just don’t know it yet.
“It’s not based on socioeconomic status, it doesn’t care who you are, if addiction gets you, it gets you,” Fort said.
In Delray Beach, city leaders are considering a lawsuit of their own. Leaders say city resources like police and other first responders are being used to deal with this crisis and the city wants compensation.
Filed under: General Problems
I find it interesting that we say opiate crisis. Ok is that a crisis of herion, the cartels drugs . You have branched out over a large area. Are we being told the people are dying over what the doctors are giving us or the illegal drugs they are letting in this country
. You are spending money giving massive funds to any governor that puts his hand out. Maybe they need to work on stopping the drugs coming into this country. Try spending some money With that. What are you doing you want to go back and put your Burbon and Bud producers in jail for killing people . It’s like they just don’t know what they are doing. They will take anyone’s research and go with it. They don’t check it because we give them a blank check no questions asked. I think it’s the people that have to change things with the polititicans .
You know i honestly think that people that od on prescribed opiates od because they did not takes them as directed it is a choice and as an ex heroin addict i find it despicable that addiction is classified as a disease. It is not a disease it is a choice. A disease finds you and has the potential to kill you and with some death is the outcome. Heroin or other illegal substances doesn’t come to you you go get it yourself and you put it in your body knowing that it might be your last fix because everyone knows that doing drugs like that can kill you in an instant. abusing drugs of any kind will lead to addiction and death is pretty much coming knowledge. I hate to say this but when a person ods they made the decision long before that they would die whether it was subconsciously or consciously using drugs to get high knowing this was a probability is pretty much a clear sign that they died in order to escape reality. The family’s of those that have died want to point the finger at pain pills that’s like blaming a spoon for making you fat. It’s selfish that in their grief they can’t see that at least their loved one is no longer suffering. In reality how many addicts have family there for them in the depths of their addiction letting them live with them or giving them money having them over etc., certainly not mine. Now suddenly that their dead they care and have forgotten how awful the things they did to feed their habit including stealing from their family was? Such bs.
Heres some corruption for u all,,My little hospital,,AdamsCounty Memorial,,,,,,claimed a 88 year old o.d.,,,,right when the ,”grants,;” became available,,,Gee how many hospitals are going to document o.d.’s when in reality its liver failure,,1000000,,,,to get those grants,,,
Furthermore whilst looking up charging the federal government w/torture,,I discover’d during the bush era they challenged the U.N,, with what the U.S.A. claimed as,,” Lawful sanctions,”,,,ie,,,the why they are trying to get all this bullshit pasted as law,,ie,,,lawful sanction,,,,I swear,,my father-in -law was correct,,the federal government lies ,,,never ever telling the public the truth,,,ever,,,,maryw
What an original idea!