With Palm Beach generating some of the highest opioid-related deaths in Florida, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County Foundation will lead Project Opioid Palm Beach to find ways to reduce the county’s overdose rate.

The group will collaborate with business and community leaders to build a county-wide coalition to allocate resources for the prescription drug abuse epidemic impacting thousands of Palm Beach County residents.

Opioids are the leading driver of drug overdose deaths in the United States, according to the CDC. In 2019, more than 475 people died of opioid overdose in Palm Beach County, which made the county the fourth-deadliest county for opioid-related fatalities in Florida. The county’s opioid overdose rate of 36.7 per 100,000 population is 71.5% higher than the Florida average and 237% higher than the nation.

“Quite simply, this is the largest public health crisis in our nation’s history, and its roots and impact are very much a Florida story,” says Andrae Bailey, founder of Project Opioid. “The number of individuals who die every day, or are on the verge of death, is inconceivable.”