The number of drug overdose deaths in Florida has dropped slightly, according to the latest data provided by the state’s Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody presented the data at a press conference with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday to discuss how the state is faring against a national rise in overdoses and what experts are calling a deadly drug crisis.
For the first time since 2018, the annual report showed a 3% drop in the number of drug-related deaths in Florida.
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Moody, who spoke alongside Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass and Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, linked the decline to the partnership between state government and local law enforcement.
One of the policy measures praised during the conference was opening up the availability of Narcan, a medicine that comes in a spray form capable of reversing an opioid overdose.