DATE: March 7, 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Paul Faulk, Director
Broward Addition Recovery Center
PHONE: 954-357-4880
EMAIL: pfaulk@broward.org
BROWARD COUNTY, FL - Teamwork pays off! It's been almost 10 months since the Broward County Flakka Action Team waged an educational campaign warning residents of the life-threatening dangers of flakka, an inexpensive and readily available synthetic bath salt drug. Since that time, the number of reported flakka incidences in Broward County continues to dramatically decline.
The Flakka Action Team is a collaborative partnership between multiple community partners including Broward County, Behavioral Health Providers, Broward Sheriff's Office, Law Enforcement, State Attorney's Office, Hospital Systems, Office of the Broward County Medical Examiner, United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse, Florida Department of Health, Broward Public Schools, 211 and faith-based organizations.
Most recently, the Team shared their success story, "Flakka-Lessons from Ground Zero," at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's (CADCA) 26th Annual National Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. The presentation highlighted Broward County's challenges with the 2015 flakka epidemic and the successful collaboration between multiple community partners.
Paul Faulk, director of BARC (Broward Addiction Recovery Center) confirmed that BARC's flakka admission statistics are declining. Between September 2014 and December 2015, BARC treated 463 flakka patients, with the highest number of admissions in a single month peaking at 50 in July 2015 declining to 6 admissions in January 2016.
"This proves that our joint community efforts were successful coupled with the fact that flakka and 115 other mood alternating drugs were banned in China from further production," said Faulk.
For the same period, Broward Health treated 1,872 flakka patients, with the highest number of admissions in a single month being 360 in July 2015 and declining to 54 in December 2015. Similarly, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office is experiencing a decline in flakka deaths. From September 2014 - December 15, 2015 flakka related deaths by month peaked in July at 10 deaths with smaller peaks trending downwards to one flakka related death in December 2015.
The decline in the number of flakka incidences is consistent with findings at the Broward Sheriff's Office. "Since October, we've experienced a steady decline in flakka-related incidents," Sheriff Scott Israel said. "We will never know just how many lives we save through our aggressive educational campaign, but I do know that the combined efforts of the community action team's fight against flakka contributed to that success."
The success of the Flakka Action Team was most recently honored on February 26th at the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, at the South Florida Community Care Network 6th Annual Non-Profit Academy Awards presented by 211. The team was honored for their community outreach plan that promotes the health and safety of Broward County.
PHOTO CAPTION:
The Flakka Action Team at CADCA includes (l-r): Angela Ventura, United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse, Gonzalo Cadima, United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse, Paul Faulk, BARC, Heather Davidson, United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse, Donald Maines, BSO, and Elkin Alfred, BSO.