A source with the Miami police department told Local10 that the child’s mother has a history of heroin abuse. The source said police administered a dose of Narcan, an opioid reversal drug.
Like other states across the U.S., Florida has been hard-hit by heroin and synthetic opioid fentanyl in recent years. According to the Orlando Sentinel and ActionNewsJax, there’s been a surge of heroin deaths in both South and North Florida. For example, in Florida’s Broward County, it is estimated that 272 people will die from heroin- or fentantyl-related deaths in 2016, if it continues at the current pace, representing a significant increase from 2015’s figure, when 159 people died.
“We don’t see it slowing down,” Broward’s Chief Medical Examiner Craig Mallak said, adding that 2015’s death toll is a third higher than 2014. “These are probably very, very conservative numbers. They’re probably going to be a lot higher than this.”
