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Editorial: Brighter focus on treating drug abuse, mental health issues

 
Gov. Rick Scott has wisely recognized that Florida is not doing enough to help people addicted to drugs and living with mental illness, and the Legislature next year should follow his lead and invest more money in these critical services.
Gov. Rick Scott has wisely recognized that Florida is not doing enough to help people addicted to drugs and living with mental illness, and the Legislature next year should follow his lead and invest more money in these critical services.
Published Oct. 2, 2015

A surge in heroin use in Hillsborough County and throughout Florida underscores the need for increased state funding for substance abuse treatment and mental health services. Gov. Rick Scott has wisely recognized that Florida is not doing enough to help people addicted to drugs and living with mental illness, and the Legislature next year should follow his lead and invest more money in these critical services.

Heroin deaths in Florida reached an all-time high in 2014 of 447 people, according to a report released last week by state medical examiners. Hillsborough County recorded 22 heroin-related deaths in 2014, up from just three a year earlier. Officials have already linked 18 Hillsborough deaths to heroin in the first half of this year. Public health officials across the country say law enforcement's crackdown on doctor shopping, pill mills and the opioid drug oxycodone has prompted the addicted to look for an alternative. Increasingly, drug users are turning to heroin, a relatively inexpensive opioid that is easy to obtain as drug cartels from Mexico find ways to produce a more potent product and smuggle it north, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The spike in heroin deaths highlights an enormous gap in the care offerings for drug addicts, a problem Florida would be smart to quickly address.

Last week, Florida's Department of Children and Families reached a settlement with Disability Rights Florida, which had sued the state and accused it of failing to have enough community placement spots for the mentally ill. The settlement includes the creation of a pilot program in Hillsborough to provide wraparound services that will ease transitions from hospitals to community-based care. With proper execution, this move can positively affect the lives of one of the state's most vulnerable populations.

This summer, the governor sensibly issued an executive order that requires an increased focus on providing mental health services to inmates to help their reintegration into society. Scott also created a pilot program in Broward County, which he later expanded to Pinellas and Alachua counties, that will attempt to better coordinate mental health and substance abuse services across agencies. And Scott has proposed raising spending for mental health patients and drug treatment in 2016-17.

Florida has long ranked among the country's stingiest for substance abuse treatment and mental health spending, coming in 49th in the nation in 2012. The governor is right to propose investing more in these areas, which would benefit more patients and help address broader issues ranging from crime to homelessness to health care costs.