Opioid crisis declaration by President Trump welcomed in Florida

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s declaration Thursday of the opioid crisis as a national emergency could provide needed help in Florida, where deaths from that family of drugs soared 21 percent in 2015.

A formal declaration of a public health emergency — or a presidential emergency declaration — gives the administration additional powers to waive health regulations, pay for treatment programs, and make overdose-reversing drugs more widely available.

Opioids include heroin, but also prescription drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone. Overdoses attributed to these drugs claim an average of 142 lives a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2015, 7,293 Floridians died from opioids, a 21 percent increase from 2014, when 6,011 died, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Association. Statistics for 2016 have yet to come out.

Former GOP Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose daughter Noelle battled drug addiction, tweeted his gratitude after Trump’s announcement.

“Thank you @POTUS for declaring the opioid crisis a national emergency. We must combat this dangerous epidemic.”

More: Anthony Westbury: Treat opioid epidemic on streets, ex-user tells group

The largest increases in opioid-related deaths in Florida from 2014 to 2015 were from the following drugs: Buprenorphine (up 102 percent), heroin (up 74 percent), fentanyl (up 69 percent), codeine (up 57 percent), and Oxymorphone (up 42 percent).

The president’s decision comes after his Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis recommended the U.S. “rapidly increase treatment capacity.” The commission found that only 10 percent of drug treatment facilities provide medication-assisted treatment for opioid abuse.

“Opioid addiction continues to wreak havoc on families in Florida and across the country,” said GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, whose Sarasota-area district has been hit particularly hard by fentanyl-related deaths. “We need a national focus on this epidemic. I salute the president for declaring a public health emergency so states and federal agencies can have the resources necessary to combat the drug crisis.”

More: Gil Smart: Opana addiction a huge issue here, but only part of opioid nightmare

Agriculture secretary in Florida to talk citrus

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is coming to Southwest Florida to get a first-hand look at Florida’s citrus struggles.

At the invitation of GOP Rep. Tom Rooney, Perdue will visit Charlotte and Lee Counties on Wednesday, to discuss the state of Florida’s citrus industry with local growers, researchers, and industry stakeholders.

They’ll both tour a private grove in Punta Gorda, then host a “Citrus Farm Bill Listening Session” in North Fort Myers moderated by Mike Sparks of Florida Citrus Mutual.

“The goal of this listening session is to bring together researchers and growers and to have them discuss the successes and challenges they have faced while combatting citrus greening disease,” according to a release from Rooney’s office.

Citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing or HLB, has been destroying groves in Florida for nearly a decade. During that time, Florida citrus production has declined over 60 percent. The disease has since spread to groves in Texas, Arizona and California.

Rooney and Perdue are scheduled to finish the day by walking through the Citrus Expo at the Lee Civic Center to visit various exhibits and speak with vendors.

Rooney recently introduced a bill reauthorizing programs to research a cure for citrus greening disease and aid growers in the replanting of healthy trees in ravaged or abandoned groves.

The bipartisan measure would authorize $25 million in annual funding until a cure to citrus greening is found. In addition, the bill expands the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Tree Assistance Program to expand efforts aimed at replacing diseased trees with healthy ones.

Consumer complaints add up

Floridians are generally not a shy bunch.

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that when they feel like they’re being cheated, they’ll lodge a formal complaint.

They’ve done it more than 111,000 times since 2011, according to statistics filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The federal agency monitors how customers are treated by a banks, lenders and credit card companies.

Florida’s complaints represented nearly one of every 10 filed nationally over the past six years, and trailed only California (159,158) in sheer volume.

Here’s a breakdown of the type of complaint:

29,346 for mortgage issues

28,457 for debt collection issues

22,574 for credit reporting issues

10,251 for credit card issues

10,189 for bank account or service issues

Gregory Korte of USA TODAY contributed

Contact Ledyard King at lking@gannett.com; Twitter: @ledgeking