A few years after leading Florida in opioid deaths, the Pensacola medical district has seen overdose deaths drop by more than a third.
As Florida’s statewide fight against opioid addiction and death continues, new 2025 data from the Florida Medical Examiners Commission (MEC) show fewer people are dying from fentanyl and other opioids.
Then-Attorney General Ashley Moody made a pitstop in Pensacola to hold a press conference in 2023 after MEC data showed the District 1 Medical Examiners Office, which encompasses Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties, was double the state average of fentanyl and opioid deaths.
Now, partial 2025 data from an interim report shows that opioid deaths around Florida are plummeting, including in Escambia and surrounding counties.
“It’s a testament to the tenacity of our partnerships with the healthcare community,” said Escambia EMS Chief Chris Watts. “You recognize that there is a problem, so we create a solution to the problem.”
According to the 2025 data in the interim MEC report, numbers from January through June were collected and published in the Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons report and show a staggering 42.1% decrease in fentanyl presence among bodies studied by the MEC around Florida.
The report also showed a 54.6% drop in fentanyl analogs over the same six-month time period compared to 2024.
The District 1 Medical Examiner’s Office made up less than 3% of Florida’s total deaths with fentanyl, with 37 from January through June of 2025—a 35% decrease from the same period in 2024, which saw 103 fentanyl deaths in the first six months of 2024.
Part of the fix, according to Watts, is the ongoing success of Escambia County’s Coordinated Opioid Recovery (CORE) program, which acts as a gateway for addiction recovery and education.
Essentially, the program serves as a bridge during the period between a drug overdose patient leaving the hospital and attending their first appointment with a long-term drug treatment center.
“We have four nurses dedicated to just addressing those with opioid use disorder and their addiction to opiates,” Watts said. “They actually go out and work with these patients directly and help with medication-assisted therapy and things in the field wherever they are.
“And then we help bridge the gap by partnering with the state, and part of that is Community Health Northwest Florida to get those patients into a long-term recovery facility and do some holistic treatment,” he added.
Overall, Gov. Ron DeSantis attributes the drastic drop in opioid and fentanyl deaths to the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication (S.A.F.E.) program, meant to strengthen law enforcement personnel’s ability to conduct drug seizures and arrests.
“Florida proves that states can successfully fight fentanyl and the cartels,” DeSantis said. “Thanks to our investments and policies to empower law enforcement, drug-related deaths declined significantly last year.”
According to the governor’s office, S.A.F.E. investigations resulted in nearly 3,000 arrests and the seizure of:
“The numbers are significantly different on our side in a positive trend being down, and I think the community as a whole recognizes it,” Watts said. “It’s not taboo anymore. People talk about it. People recognize it. And people want to fix the problem.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: We used to lead Florida in fentanyl deaths. How we’re turning the tide
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
