Scott’s opioid listening tour generates skepticism
Some call four, 90-minute sessions inadequate; governor says it’s a start.
State officials dispatched by Gov. Rick Scott on a statewide listening tour to seek solutions to the opioid epidemic will devote just six hours in four stops to an issue causing thousands of deaths in Florida and nationwide.
As other governors declare a state of emergency and increase spending on treatment, Scott has called for four 90-minute sessions, including one May 1 in West Palm Beach.
The timing is an issue as well. The workshops in the first week of May take place at the same time as the final week of the annual legislative session, casting doubt on whether some key officials will attend.
One key official who is planning to attend is Dr. Celeste Philip, Florida’s surgeon general, said Tim O’Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Health Department.
Still, Scott’s approach left some recovery advocates and family members wondering whether it’s even worth attending.
Some say they’re skeptical that 90 minutes is enough time to hear their concerns, much less allow state officials to provide them with information and spell out best practices, as a state news release suggests.
“Is (Scott) in an alternative world to think that he can only spare 90 minutes on this big of a problem that has taken so many lives? That’s a shame,” said Maureen Sperling, of Delray Beach, whose son died of an overdose in 2012.
“This sounds horrible but (a workshop) seems pointless,” said Dana Finegan, whose son died in a Delray Beach apartment in October after overdosing on heroin laced with carfentanil. Her son, Anthony Russo, was among nearly 600 people who died in Palm Beach County in 2016 from an opioid overdose, twice the number from 2015.
“At this point I just don’t know if I will go because I’m just so frustrated,” she said. “You can only talk until you are blue in the face unless you take action.”
Finegan and other families say a more effective