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What has Rick Scott done to address Florida's opioid crisis?

A liberal super PAC says, “Not much.”
A liberal super PAC, American Bridge, is alleging that Florida Gov. Rick Scott has largely ignored an opioid crisis that is only worsening.
A liberal super PAC, American Bridge, is alleging that Florida Gov. Rick Scott has largely ignored an opioid crisis that is only worsening.
Published Oct. 12, 2017|Updated Oct. 12, 2017

To hear Gov. Rick Scott tell it, he’s been aggressively addressing an opioid crisis that is killing an average of 14 people a day.

“As states across the country continue to fight this national epidemic, we must make sure Florida is doing our part to help vulnerable individuals and keep our families safe,” Scott said upon announcing $50 million for drug treatment, counseling and The Florida Violent Crime and Drug Control Council.

But liberal super PAC American Bridge released a five-minute video Thursday that claims Scott has been indifferent to the crisis, calling his response “abysmal.”

“Thousands of Floridians are dying every year from opioid abuse and Rick Scott has done next to nothing to help them,” said American Bridge spokesman Joshua Karp. “No matter how many campaign photo-ops he does now, the truth is Rick Scott has been totally unprepared and absent while the opioid crisis in Florida has exploded, and Floridians won‘t let him forget it.”

Bolstering the claim is the group’s mention that it was Scott, after all, who in 2011 “eliminated the Office of Drug Control and refused to expand Medicaid, which would have helped 300,000 Floridians access treatment for opioid addiction.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham has been hammering Scott on the state’s response to the epidemic, specifically the state’s decision not to sue pharmaceutical companies for their role in the proliferation of opioids. ;

Here’s the American Bridge video: