(WTXL) — Whether it's free narcan offered by community organizations, or access to more treatment, it will be a community effort to stop the rising death toll.
"I hope that after what we have experienced this weekend, people will think twice about putting an illegal drug in their system," Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young said.
Young says the sheriff's office and police departments around the county are trying to figure out how to stop the increase in overdoses and deaths.
The sheriff's office is investigating 16 possible overdoses and six deaths since Friday.
The latest death reported Sunday night in Havana.
Those deaths span from Havana to Quincy, Chattahoochee and Gretna.
"Some of the victims had cocaine, so we think that some of this fentanyl was laced with marijuana or cocaine," Young said.
According to the DEA, 2 mg of fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid no larger than the dates on pennies, are considered a lethal dose.
When it comes to resources in fighting opioid addictions, there is help available.
In 2018, the state of Florida started their Helping Emergency Responders Obtain Support Program.
In 2020, the program gave out over 455,000 free doses of narcan to emergency departments to use in their communities across the state.
Narcan is used to help temporarily reverse the affects of opioid overdoses.
Here in Tallahassee, the I Save Florida program provides free narcan to community organizations to give to people at-risk of overdosing.
Here in Gadsden and Leon County-- those organizations include:
- DISC Village - Gadsden County Human Services
- DISC Village, Inc. In Tallahassee
- Oxford Houses Tallahassee
- And Florida Harm Reduction Initiative
Also in the fight, the Apalachee Center in Tallahassee.
Through a $2 million Certified Community Behavioral Health Center, the organization that deals primarily in mental and behavioral health will have more tools at their disposal to strengthen their outpatient drug abuse services.
Better being able to focus on primary and drug abuse care, being able to purchase more medicine that helps with opioid cravings.
The Apalachee Center says they take patients who both have insurance, and don't have insurance, saying that everyone who want's help with drug use, deserves help.
