Govenor Announces Task Force on Opioid Abuse

Feb 9, 2024
On Monday, April 1, the governor announced the creation of a Statewide Task Force on Opioid Abuse and the re-establishment of the Office of Drug Control within the Executive Office of the Governor to address Florida’s substance abuse crisis.
The Task Force will be chaired by Attorney General Ashley Moody and will contain 20 other members ranging from state agency secretaries to law enforcement officials, as well as mental health and substance abuse experts and legislative leaders. The director of the Office of Drug Control will serve as the executive director of the Task Force. Since the governor created the Task Force through an executive order, several bills being considered this session will no longer be needed: HB 875 by Rep. Tyler Sirois (R-Merritt Island) and SB 1658 by Sen. Wilton Simpson (R-Spring Hill).

The Task Force must present recommendations to the governor, Senate president and House speaker that identify best practices to combat the opioid crisis through education, treatment, prevention, recovery and law enforcement. Moreover, the governor announced
that Florida had secured an additional $26 million in federal funding for the state’s opioid response project.

To view a copy of the governor’s executive order on the creation of the opioid task force, click here.

Capital Report, Vol. 26, No. 6 – April 5, 2019