Lawmakers in D.C., Tallahassee seeking help on opioid crisis

Mast, McKinlay call for stepped-up efforts to combat heroin.

Palm Beach County’s opioid crisis, the focus of an ongoing series by The Palm Beach Post, received attention Thursday from elected leaders in Washington, D.C., and Tallahassee.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, in remarks from the House floor in Washington, called for more help for local towns battling the epidemic.

“In Florida alone, heroin and fentanyl deaths have risen by nearly 80 percent,” Mast said. “Local governments in Florida are responding as best as they can with their limited resources, but they cannot solve this problem alone.’’

Mast specifically mentioned Palm Beach County as “one of the hardest-hit counties in the state. In 2016, the county received The addiction treatment industry is Palm Beach County’s fourthlargest, generating $1 billion in revenue every year. It is now the focus of an FBI task force. To read previous stories and materials related to this story, go to myPalmBeachPost. more than 4,000 overdose calls and approximately 500 opioid-related deaths.’’

He commended Congress for working on measures to address the crisis, including the bipartisan Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, which would crack down on illicit shipments into the United States.

“But we have to do more,” Mast said. “I also hope we can continue to work together in other ways to fight this epidemic. Only by working together at the federal, state and local government levels can we defeat this terrible