Heroin epidemic in Manatee County dominates table talk at 'Supper with the Sheriff'

BRADENTON -- The heroin epidemic in Manatee County dominated Thursday's "Supper with the Sheriff."

Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube brought up the issue before roughly 300 people inside the Police Athletic League.

"As most of you probably know, if you even read the newspaper at all, you know that Manatee County has the distinction of being the number one for overdose and heroin deaths," he said. "And I don't think that's a distinction that we want."

Because of this, Steube said the sheriff's office launched several long-term investigations targeting distribution, one of which concluded a few months ago with the arrests of 15 people. The sheriff's office held a press conference in February for that investigation, which started in September 2014 as heroin began ravaging the community.

Lt. Jason Powell, who works in the Special Investigations Division, delivered an in-depth heroin oversight to the audience. According to Powell, the sheriff's office responded to 561 heroin overdoses in 2015.

"Of those, 57 were fatal, which is about 10 percent," he said as the room filled with murmurs and gasps. "We didn't even track heroin overdoses the year before that because it just wasn't something that happened. ... It wasn't significant enough a problem for us to even track the numbers on."

July was the deadliest month, when Powell said 281 overdoses were reported.

"It was common for us to respond to three to four overdose calls a night," he said. "We had people overdose upwards of 20 to 30 times, that we've dealt with. We had people who overdosed five nights in a row. They would overdose, EMS would come, pick them up, administer Narcan, they'd go to the hospital, walk out, go home, shoot up the next day and overdose again."

Narcan nasal spray is a life-saving medication that can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Asked about the prominent age group of those overdosing, Powell said people between 20 and 29 years old.

"We're not finished. This is something that's just not going to turn around or go away," Steube said. "It's something that we're going to have to keep on, and I just want you to know that we're involved in another long-term investigation right now."

Lt. Rob Andrews spoke about Deterra, an environmentally friendly product used to deactivate drugs and develop a safe disposal method for medications. Free Deterra pouches were left at the tables for attendees to take home.

Among the items on attendee plates were pasta, salad and rolls -- and cookies.

After supper, Connie Tomala said people are fortunate to have Narcan nasal spray available in the county.

"It was quite a new thing to learn about, so I think it's a comfort to know," the Bradenton resident said.

Tomala said the easy availability of heroin in Manatee County is outrageous.

"I have never done drugs," she said. "I don't quite understand it."

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 11:28 PM with the headline "Heroin epidemic in Manatee County dominates table talk at 'Supper with the Sheriff' ."