State’s opioid fight a constant battle
Experts: Florida has opportunities, shortfalls in combating epidemic
There were heartwrenching stories, messages of hope and calls to action, all rising from the opioid crisis that’s gripped the nation.
There was Gary Mendell of New York, whose son took his own life in 2011 after a long battle with addiction. He later founded Shatterproof to change the conversation about addiction and help families affected by the disease.
There was David Siegel, CEO of Westgate Resorts in Orlando, whose daughter died in 2016 from a toxic mix of prescription drugs. He’s been an outspoken advocate for the wider availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
There was Susan Stevens of North Carolina, whose daughter died of a drug overdose on Jan. 22. Stevens later founded Tealdrops to fight the opioid epidemic.
And there was Mayor Buddy Dyer, whose son has battled drug and alcohol addiction and has been sober for several years. Dyer gave the opening remarks on Monday at Opioids & Florida in Lake Nona, an invitation-only conference organized by GuideWell, the parent company of Florida
Blue. More than 200 people attended the event.
“We know it’s a national epidemic but we want to localize it,” Dyer said in an interview. “We talk in terms of a person being a drug addict. We don’t talk about them in terms of having cancer or having some type of other disease, and it is absolutely a disease.”
Local leaders have been battling the opioid epidemic for several years, with initiatives such as the Orange County Heroin Task Force, which was formed in 2015. They’ve continued to arm more first responders with naloxone.
And their efforts may have softened the epidemic’s blow to Central Florida compared with other regions of the state, according to data presented by Sandeep Kasat, a senior epidemiologist with consulting firm Westat.
But there’s also bad news. Heroin and synthetic opioids, including illicitly manufactured drugs, some mixed with lethal doses of fentanyl, continue to claim more lives.
“If you look at deaths from synthetic opioids, although Central Florida’s [rates] weren’t the highest, deaths in all regions of Florida are going up,” said Kasat.
There’s no one answer to curbing the epidemic.
“This is not something that any one of the sectors can handle on their own,” said Dyer.
During the conference, speakers highlighted the important role of employers — whether it’s hotels and restaurants or health systems and insurance companies — the need to educate parents about addiction and the difficult conversations that surround it.
Florida Blue, which is expanding its collaborations to fight the opioid epidemic at several regions including Central Florida, stopped covering Oxycodone in 2017.
“We see ourselves as a stakeholder in this issue,” said Florida Blue CEO Pat Geraghty. “We think we need to be on the front end of helping people not get addicted in the first place and when addicted, be treated as patients. Try and reduce the stigma around addiction and try and help people get to the right services in the right setting.”
Presenters also stressed the importance of expanding access to medicationassisted treatment for opioid addiction.
Doctors shouldn’t opt out of treating opioid addiction the same way they can't opt out of treating heart disease, said Michael Botticelli, executive director of Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center.
“It can't be optional anymore. The sense of urgency with which you have to act is huge. You can't rely on volunteerism anymore to treat addiction,” Botticelli said.
Siegel of Westgate Resorts, who always carries naloxone in his pocket, believes the best deterrent is random drug testing children at 14 or 15 years old.
“His son would be alive today, my daughter would be alive today if they were drug tested when they were 14, 15 [years old],” said Siegel in an interview with Mendell of Shatterproof standing nearby. “You can talk about how many people are dying, but the only way to prevent it is to start drug testing in middle school.”