The opioid epidemic has been front and center in Palm Beach County this week.
Senator Marco Rubio met with State Attorney Dave Aronberg, who heads up a sober home task force aimed at busting operators of illegal rehab programs that are actually providing drugs to patients, according to authorities.
For Protecting the Palm Beaches, we focus on how the crisis is effecting the community of Delray Beach.
Police Chief Jeff Goldman told us that the city has a plan.
"We've come up with a 3-pronged approach of enforcement, education and lifesaving. We're out there arresting not only the dealers, but also we're looking into patient-brokering and a lot of the other fraud that happens. We have someone assigned to the Sober Home Task Force, a detective. We educate through things like this...speaking out in the community, letting them know what's going on. And the last part is lifesaving, as Delray was the first in Palm Beach County and the second in the state to deploy NARCAN (nasal spray for the emergency treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose)...our officers carry it to save people's lives."
How bad is the problem in Delray Beach? Chief Goldman says heroin overdoses increased 318 percent year over year from 2015, when his officers responded to 144 overdoses, to last year, when there 602, 52 of which were fatal.
Photo: Tetra images RF