Project Opioid, from this week, will extend its reach into Florida’s five largest markets. In partnership with Florida Blue and the Florida Blue Foundation, it is a Central Florida-based initiative on the opioid overdose crisis. Markets to be covered include Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
- This business- and faith-leader-directed collaborative will spearhead the Project Opioid program in their communities and will be responsible for recruiting business, faith and philanthropic leaders to the Project Opioid initiative. The target is to reduce opioid overdoses and overdose deaths by 50% in the next 36 months.
- The designated Regional Super Advocates include:
- JAX Chamber Foundation.
- The Miami-Dade Beacon Council Foundation.
- The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance Foundation.
- The Business Development Board of Palm Beach Foundation.
- The Tampa Bay Partnership Foundation.
- The Jax Chamber, Tampa Bay Partnership, Miami-Dade Beacon Council, Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance and the Business Development Board of Palm Beach Foundations are led by some of Florida’s top business champions and will look to find solutions to the increasing overdose crisis around the state and identify specific, actionable steps to create a major impact on this epidemic in 2021.
- This expansion comes as “The COVID Overdose Crisis,” which has caused a dramatic increase in the number of overdose in the USA. In Florida, it is projected that at least 55 people a day died from a drug overdose in 2020, a projected 59% increase in drug overdoses from 2019. Younger generations have been hit particularly hard with 53% of all drug overdoses in the state occurring in individuals between the ages of 25 and 44, even though this segment only represents 25% of the population statewide.
- “The number of overdose deaths we are seeing across the state of Florida is unprecedented,” said Andrae Bailey, founder and CEO of Project Opioid. “The mental health anguish from COVID-19 has caused Floridians, predominantly Millennials, to turn to drugs to cope. These drugs, particularly when they contain fentanyl, are killing our young residents in record numbers and it is time for community leaders to step up and help solve this crisis.”