TAMPA, Fla. — Matt Morgan says addiction to opioids is more dangerous now than ever before.
“If I was using my painkillers 18-20 years ago with my addiction. I’d be dead 35 times over, make no mistake about that, because I didn’t have to worry about fentanyl being laced in my painkillers.”
Morgan says he got addicted to opioids while recovering from an injury during his days as a professional wrestler.
He says that addiction lasted five years.
“Where I couldn’t go a four-hour window without anywhere between 100-120 milligrams of oxy or hydrocodone.”
Morgan says he’s one of the lucky ones who was finally able to get help.
He’s been in recovery for 18 years.
And has turned to a career in politics, serving two terms as mayor of Longwood north of Orlando.
“Everybody has a different rock bottom. I’m beyond blessed. I have an amazing wife, Larissa that I didn’t have to lose my marriage, my home, things like that to hit rock bottom.”
Morgan joined Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass to announce that drug-related deaths, opioid deaths, and fentanyl deaths are all down in the state.
The latest Florida Medical Examiners report, which looks at the first six months of 2023 shows a 10% drop in deaths caused by fentanyl and opioids.
The report also says there was a 7% decrease in total drug-related deaths.
This is the third straight year that number has gone down.
Moody says the state is seeing progress because of massive drug interdiction efforts by local enforcement agencies.
“We are pushing money into local agencies, giving them the resources they need for investigative efforts to go after these individuals and seize fentanyl and it’s working.”
Moody says Florida leads the nation in seizing fentanyl, a drug deadly even in tiny amounts that is often added to other drugs sold on the black market.
“I am optimistic about the work that we are doing and the results that we are seeing, but the death toll is still way too high.”
The medical examiners' report says more than 7,000 Floridians died of a drug overdose in the first six months of last year.
For those looking to get help with addiction issues, you can go to treatmentatlas.org
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