Alone at last –

March 24, 2020 – An ex-addict with a dream His dream has a name: Marvin’s Corner, to honor a wealthy New Yorker who befriended Schmidt, 64, when he was a young man adrift on drugs. He envisions a center like the nonprofit Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco, where Schmidt got clean more than 30 years ago.

South Florida’s need for a similar treatment center has never been greater, experts say.

“The [opioid] epidemic continues, but has stabilized and stopped escalating, though consequences such as death are still at the highest levels,” said James N. Hall, an epidemiologist with Nova Southeastern University in Davie.  

The opioid numbers have “plateaued,” as scientists say, but it’s a very high plateau, more like a mountaintop. The number of deaths related to heroin, for example, increased sharply from 57 in 2011 to an estimated 1,096 in 2017, according to a 2018 report of the National Drug Early Warning System, the most recent available. In South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties), heroin fatalities rose from 30 in 2011 to an estimated 524 in 2017, the report said. 

@FloridaBulldog