Florida County Sees Alarming Increase In Opioid Overdoses

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

FORT MYERS (CBSMiami/AP) — A growing national concern has been magnified in an area of its southernmost state.

Health officials in a Florida county are calling attention to an alarming increase in opioid overdoses and deaths.

Lee County on Florida's Gulf Coast saw 955 cases in 2017, eight times more than the 171 overdoses reported in 2013, according to medical provider Lee Health.

The News-Press reported that street drug heroin and fentanyl deaths accounted for 61 deaths in 2016 in the Fort Myers area, while in Naples, they accounted for 27 deaths. Nearby Port Charlotte had eight deaths.

In all of Florida, the opioid epidemic claimed 5,725 deaths in 2016, a 35 percent increase from the 4,242 Florida deaths in 2015, according to a Florida Medical Examiners report.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and President Donald Trump have declared the rise in deaths and overdoses state and national emergencies.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)