SANFORD, Fla. – In an effort to continue the fight against fentanyl, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed two bills in Sanford cracking down on exposure with first responders and raising awareness.
The governor was joined by several people, including Florida Department of Health Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, for the news conference at the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Professional Development Center.
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During the news conference, DeSantis signed SB 718 and SB 66 into law. SB 718 makes it a second-degree felony for adults who, “through unlawful possession of dangerous fentanyl or analogs,” expose any first responder to fentanyl and results in overdose or serious bodily injury.
“And so if an officer says, ‘Do you have drugs in your possession?’ and you lie, and then the officer ends up getting exposed and harmed, we’re gonna throw the book at you and we’re gonna hold you accountable. We want to make sure that the people that wear the uniform are protected,” DeSantis said.
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma praised the legislation and efforts to fight against opioids in the county and the state.
“This growing of this effort and providing this holistic strategy is moving out community, moving our society and protecting those most vulnerable within our communities,” Lemma said.
The other bill signed, SB 66, known as “Victoria’s Law,” designates June 6 as “Revive Awareness Day,” which “encourages the Florida Department of Health hold events to raise awareness of the dangers of opioid overdose and the safe use of opioid counteractives.”
“Part of this is education, knowing that this is very, very perilous stuff to be involved with in any kind and even if you’re not knowingly seeking out of fentanyl product, you may be seeking out another product that has that in there unwittingly, and that can be devastating,” DeSantis said.
In addition to the bill signings, the governor expanded a multi-county opioid recovery network, known as the Coordinated Opioid Recovery network (or CORE), from 12 counties to 17 counties. The program was first launched in 2022.
[RELATED: Florida Gov. DeSantis announces multi-county opioid recovery program]
The expansion now includes, Bay, Broward, Collier, Fernando, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Leon, Miami Dade, Monroe, Okaloosa, Orange, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole and St. Lucie counties.
“So that’s a lot of people that are going to be impacted. We’re proud of that. We now have a total of 29 CORE counties in the state of Florida, which will save lives and place Florida at the forefront of combating the opioid epidemic,” the governor said.
Watch the full news conference below:
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