- State Attorney General Ashley Moody announced the launch of ATLAS, an online platform she helped bring to Florida that provides individuals with cost-effective addiction treatment options
- The new platform allows individuals to search for licensed treatment facilities throughout Florida based on location, use of best practices, types of treatment offered, and accepted insurers
- Florida’s leaders this year have allocated resources to fight the worsening opioid crisis, including an overdose response program established by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Department of Health’s initiative to provide all 67 counties with overdose medication
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody this week announced the launch of a new opioid addiction prevention platform, ATLAS, that can help provide individuals with cost-effective treatment options.
The new platform aims to help individuals in overcoming addiction and search for licensed treatment facilities throughout Florida based on location, use of best practices, types of treatment offered, and accepted insurers.
“[I’m] Excited to help launch ATLAS—an innovative program that helps those struggling with opioid addiction find affordable, high-quality treatment near them,” said Moody.” ATLAS will be funded, in part, through funds we secured fighting the national opioid crisis.”
Shatterproof, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the statewide addiction crisis, launched ATLAS in Florida in collaboration with Florida Blue and New Directions Behavioral Health, a leading coordinated behavioral health care organization.
ATLAS aligns with ongoing statewide initiatives to improve the quality of addiction treatment available to residents by ensuring care is delivered using evidence-based best practices.
Moody’s announcement comes concurrent with the launch of a new state initiative to provide all 67 counties in Florida with available access to naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan.
Naloxone is an overdose response medication that could reduce thousands of substance abuse deaths across the state through county health departments.
“Addressing the opioid epidemic is a top priority for the state,” said Deputy Secretary for Health Dr. Kenneth A. Scheppke. “In 2021, almost 8,000 people in Florida lost their lives to drug overdoses, the highest one-year total ever recorded in our state.”
The initiative is the result of collaboration with the Florida Department of Children and Families through the Overdose Prevention Program, or iSaveFL, which facilitates the distribution of naloxone kits to families, friends, and caregivers of those at risk for an opioid overdose. These naloxone kits consist of two naloxone nasal sprays that can be administered even without a health care professional present.
Further, a public health and safety alert was also deployed by the Florida Department of Health on Jul. 8 to ensure Floridians remain aware of common signs of overdose.
In July, State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, First Lady Casey DeSantis, Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young, Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Mark Glass, and Secretary of the Department of Children and Families Shevaun Harris collectively brought attention to the influx of counterfeit drugs entering Florida at a rate higher than years prior.
Through investigation, the group stated that the drugs collectively originate south of the border before being shipped to hub cities like Atlanta, then filtering to communities in North Florida.
Glass claimed that 30 percent of drugs going through lab testing protocols return counterfeit, indicating that a higher concentration of drugs entering communities poses an even bigger threat to public health and safety.
“The time for recovery is now! Fentanyl is fueling deaths,” said Moody.