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Report shows historic increase in opioid overdose deaths in Central Florida

86% of overdose deaths due to fentanyl, Project Opioid founder says

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida-based initiative teamed up with the Seminole County Sheriff’s office Wednesday to release a new report about a historic rise in local opioid overdose deaths.

Project Opioid announced the results of “The Changing Overdose Crisis in Central Florida,” which showed a 28% increase in overdose deaths from March 2020 to March 2021 in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.

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“That’s 51 people a month.  That’s over a person a day that are dying from overdose just in our three counties,” Dr. Kendall Cortelyou said.

Andrae Bailey, who founded Project Opioid, said Fentanyl was responsible for 86% of drug overdose deaths.

“A recent report by the DEA says as many as four out of 10 fake pills are now containing a lethal dose of fentanyl,” Bailey said.  “You would have better odds (of survival) putting a bullet in a gun and spinning the chamber and playing Russian Roulette than picking a fake pill up and taking it.”

In Seminole County, the opioid crisis has led to an expansion of treatment facilities and increased use of life saving measures by first responders.

Sheriff Dennis Lemma said public safety professionals have deployed Narcan more than 700 times to revive people who overdosed.

“We’re getting them the health and services that they need,” he said.  “We also need to make sure that drug dealers are held accountable for selling deadly doses of fentanyl on the street.”

Lemma said he’s continuing work to get Narcan in the hands of more people and strengthen penalties for dealers.

Project Opioid, meanwhile, has been working to increase awareness to bring together new resources for saving lives.

“We’re losing real people every day and that those people have value, and we can do something about it,” Bailey said.

Project Opioid provides free doses of Narcan to communities, which can be requested by visiting its website here.


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