Sarasota Police highlight local drug epidemic

Less than 24 hours after the 44th local drug overdose in the city since the beginning of June, the Sarasota Police Department has reached out to the community to come together and stop the local heroin epidemic.

“This is a situation that’s a serious threat to our community,” said Deputy Chief Pat Robinson during a Thursday press conference that included representatives from the Sarasota County Fire Department, First Step of Sarasota, as well as a recovering addict. Heroin, and the stronger opioids fentanyl and carfentanil, are the main drugs involved in the trend.

The event came a month after detectives arrested 31-year-old Darryl Hall with 88 individually-wrapped packages of carfentanil he allegedly aimed to sell as heroin, according to a probable cause affidavit. SPD spokeswoman Genevieve Judge said during the press briefing Hall was suspected to be a major distributor of opioids in the area.

Still, Lt. Randy Boyd stressed that there is only so much Sarasota police officers can do to curb the issue, noting that residents should urge family members and friends they suspect may have an opioid addiction to get help, before it’s too late.

“We are not going to arrest our way out of this issue,” Boyd said.

From July 1, to Sept. 15, there have been 232 overdoses countywide, according to the Fire Department Division Chief Carson Sanders. That number is up 105% compared to the same period in 2015.

Further, emergency personnel are using nearly triple the dosage of Narcan, a drug aimed at reversing an overdose, in such cases than last year. That is partly due to the increasing amount of fentanyl and carfentanil sold as heroin.

Boyd said SPD has a detective specifically assigned to cases involving the sale of these types of narcotics. Call the Narcotics Tip Line at 954-7050 to report any leads on drug cases.

City officials at the press briefing also encouraged those witnessing an overdose to immediately call 911, and safeguard the remaining drugs for law enforcement and emergency personnel to analyze.

First Step can be reached at 366-5333, or help can also be found by calling 1-800-662-HELP (4357).