Florida drug eradication fund helps FDLE seize enough fentanyl to kill 18.5 million people

One year after Florida's State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication (S.A.F.E.) program began, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced Tuesday that 19 people were arrested locally for various drug-related offenses.

FDLE received a portion of the near $15 million allocated throughout the state after Gov. Ron DeSantis approved the program, which began July 1, 2023, and ended June 30, 2024.

"In January, FDLE partnered with the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office, the state attorney for the First Judicial Circuit, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Florida Highway Patrol to initiate a drug trafficking organization based out of Fort Walton Beach," said FDLE Pensacola Special Agent in Charge Chris Williams.

The organization, dubbed the Davis Drug Trafficking Organization, arrested 19 individuals charged with various drug-related offenses that include trafficking cocaine, trafficking fentanyl, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and a litany of pending charges. Williams said they also have a number of other pending charges against those not yet arrested but under investigation.

"Two others were charged with homicide as a result of the distribution of controlled substances," Williams said.

Florida's stats and the S.A.F.E. funding

FDLE Assistant Commissioner Vaden Pollard said 410 people have been arrested throughout Florida through S.A.F.E. funding activities and there are 110 fentanyl-related investigations still underway.

Law enforcement throughout the state seized 37 kilograms of fentanyl − not including the over 30,000 fentanyl pills also seized − 20 kilograms of methamphetamine and 55 kilograms of cocaine.

According to the DEA, 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal to the average person, meaning the 37 kilograms seized statewide could potentially kill 18.5 million Floridians — nearly 82% of the state's population.

Pensacola region has highest per capita opioid deaths in Florida

According to Florida's Drugs Identified in Deceased Person's report released in 2023, the medical district encompassing Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties not only had the highest opioid overdose rate per capita in Florida, but it also doubled the state average.

Much of the increase in opioid and fentanyl deaths stem from counterfeit medicine and drugs that have been laced with opioids without the user knowing, according to FDLE, meaning that many people don't have the chance to become addicted to a drug before they die of an accidental overdose.