Report finds heroin-tied ODs up 163% in Jupiter

The latest news and numbers about heroin-related overdoses is bad in Jupiter — and getting worse, according to a repor t released from the Jupiter Police Department:

■ Seventeen Jupiter residents died since 2014, including three this year.

■ The youngest was 18. The oldest was 50. Twelve were men. Five were women.

■ Overdoses this year are up 163 percent compared to the first three months of this past year.

“This is a growing problem. We are doing community outreach, talking to students and meeting with county officials. We work closely with fire rescue on emergency response,” Police Chief Frank Kitzerow said.

Heroin-related overdoses in Jupiter spiked in 2016, with a total of 50 incidents. There were nine in 2015.

Jupiter’s fast-increasing rates of overdose echo state numbers.

Fentanyl is killing more Floridians than any other single drug, according to a state report.

Palm Beach Count y led the state in deaths caused by heroin, according to the Florida Medical Examiner Commission’s annual interim report on drugs found in deceased people — a report released just two days after Gov. Rick Scott declared a public health emergency on May 3 to fight the opioid epidemic.

Training Jupiter officers to administer Narcan, as well as hiring more officers to handle the growing addiction problem, should be considered, said Councilman Ilan Kaufer. Hiring more police officers is another option, he said.

Jupiter police do not c arr y Narcan, lifesaving heroin-overdose antidote that revives a dying addict, but fire-rescue officials in north county administer the drug.

Delray Beach police this past year became the first department to train police officers to administer the drug.

“We can’t just sit on our hands,” Kaufer said.

About $54 million in federal grants are available for Florida communities to provide prevention, treatment and recovery-support services now that Gov. Rick Scott has declared the prescription drug epidemic a st ate of emergency.

That money should be sought for Jupiter anti-addiction programs, Jupiter officials said.

“Jupiter cannot provide those education and prevention services — not only to addicts but their families — on it’s own,” said Vice Mayor Wayne Posner.

Palm Beach County had 156 deaths caused by fentanyl in the first half of this past year, accounting for about one-fifth of the fentanyl deaths across Florida. The county’s young people were hit hard: 90 of those deaths were between the ages of 18 and 34.

Heroin addicts have flocked to Palm Beach County for treatment, where an industry beset by fraud has exacted a toll in lives. As the heroin epidemic swept the nation, The Post told the stories of the 216 people who died here in 2015 from heroin-related overdoses. See the coverage at MyPalmBeachPost.com