Cocaine has a long history in Florida and continues to make its presence known in different ways, affecting our society and those in recovery.
New reports from the 2020 Drug Threat Assessment reveal cocaine poisoning is on the rise, with Florida trending reports citing polysubstance abuse in the community.
Read on to find out more about new data about Florida and cocaine and how you can get help for substance abuse in South Florida.
National Drug Threat Assessment 2020 and Florida
The new National Drug Threat Assessment for 2020 has been released by the DEA, revealing Florida still has problems with cocaine. Nationally, there is a rise in cocaine poisoning, with Florida amongst the most experiencing deaths.
Source: DEA
The DEA also states:
“Polydrug cocaine combinations, particularly cocaine with SOOTM (synthetic opioids other than methadone), are a serious concern and have contributed to the increase in drug poisoning deaths involving cocaine over the past four years. Drug poisoning deaths involving cocaine and SOOTM increased from 167 deaths in 2010, to 8,659 deaths in 2018”
Source: DEA
The DEA reports that the most significant amount of drug poisoning deaths involving cocaine are from:
- New York (1,276)
- Florida (1,221)
- Ohio (1,105)
- Pennsylvania (1,045)
- New Jersey (867)
Polydrug or polysubstance poisoning is rising across the nation and in Florida, with cocaine in the mix.
Florida Trends Show Polysubstance Abuse on the Rise
The FADAA substance abuse trend alert warns about polysubstance abuse across the nation and in Florida.
Polysubstance is combining multiple substances for a more potent effect. However, the results are fatal, as poisonings occur.
FADAA states:
“Polysubstance use in Florida has slowly been increasing over time with over 60% of poisoning deaths involving polysubstance use in 2018. Indications of polysubstance use deaths occurred among 92.6% of oxycodone-related deaths, 99.5% of heroin-related deaths, 94.8% of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues-related deaths, 87.9% cocaine-related deaths and 95.9% of methamphetamine-related deaths in 2019.”
Florida Remains as an International Cocaine Hotspot
The DEA notes that Florida saw the highest amount of cocaine seizures by weight in 2019, more than any other state. The DEA states Florida’s proximity to the Caribbean results in Florida being a cocaine hotspot.
Oddly enough, when broken down by region, there is more cocaine use in Northern and Central Florida than in South Florida.
Source: FADAA Annual Report 2020
FADAA also states:
“Less common than misuse of prescription opioid pain relievers but more common than use of heroin among adults, 2.1% of adults in Florida endorsed the use of cocaine in the past year, a number similar to that for the nation (2.3%) (Figure 11). Though the overall trend for the period of observation is down, there has been an increase in the prevalence of past-year use of cocaine among adults in both Florida (from 1.7% in 2014-2015) and the US (from 1.8% in 2013-2014) in the most recent years of reporting.”
Source: FADAA Annual Report
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