Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Palm Beach, Florida

According to the Palm Beach County, FL Sheriff’s Office, South Florida is one of the United States’ primary drug trafficking locations and principle thoroughfare for heroin and cocaine in the U.S. and Canada. South Florida is also a primary region for pharmaceutical drug diversion and domestic marijuana-growing operations.¹

Home to 39 municipalities, including popular tourist destinations Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County’s South Florida location is a prime point of entry for drug traffickers from Mexico, the Bahamas, Latin American, and the Caribbean. Major interstate highways cross into and through the entire state of Florida, giving easy access to the rest of Florida—and the U.S.—to drug couriers.¹

Palm Beach County is home to close to 1.5 million people. According to The Palm Beach County Health Needs Assessment data, 5.7% of the county’s residents reported using marijuana or hashish in the last 30 days.³ In 2021, according to data collected by FLHealthCharts, there were 602 fatal overdose deaths in Palm Beach County. In 2022, emergency medical services responded to over 5600 overdose calls and had to administer Naloxone to 1947 residents.

West Palm Beach, Florida, has a moderate population, with over 111,00 people living in the metro area. The average age is nearly 40.⁴ The population grows year over year, which makes having adequate addiction treatment facilities and staff very important.

In 2016—the last year data was available—according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), Palm Beach County reported 9.94% of respondents reported some illicit drug use (other than marijuana). Of those:

• 13.84% used marijuana in the past month.
• 2.55% reported using cocaine in the past month.
• .40% reported using heroin in the past month.
• .33% reported past month methamphetamine use.
• 4.48% reported misusing prescription pain relievers.

54.5% of Palm Beach County’s residents also said they had consumed alcohol in the past month, and of those, 23.64% were binge drinking episodes.

Palm Beach Drug Problems Facing Law Enforcement

Opioids

Drug trends tend to wax and wane with the times as regulations are put into place and law enforcement operations make access for one particular drug more difficult. For example, prescription drug diversion became a bigger problem in the early 2000s.

Pain clinics sprung up all over Florida, and doctors were prescribing opioid narcotics without much regulation. Prescription overdose deaths in the state skyrocketed 61% from 2003-2009.⁶

Law enforcement and legislators took notice of the issue, put new regulations in place, and created task forces designed to stem the flow of prescription drug diversion and illegal distribution in 2010. All drug overdose deaths dropped 18% between 2010 and 2012.⁶

While prescription drug overdoses dropped, heroin overdoses spiked 67% in Palm Beach County from 2011 to 2013.³ Heroin may be a substitute for other opioids, such oxycodone and hydrocodone, which are both prescription opioids.

In the first half of 2018, heroin was found in the systems of 79 people who had passed away and was noted as the cause of death in 48 deaths.⁷ Fentanyl, which can be 100 times more potent than morphine and is highly addictive, was responsible for the deaths of 278 people in Palm Beach County in 2018.⁸

Most prescription opioid misuse, as well as heroin use, is intravenous —80% of those in treatment for prescription opioid addiction, and 90% of individuals treated for heroin addiction —which increases all potential health risks associated with drug use.³

Cocaine

While South Florida is considered to be the primary entry point for all South American heroin coming into the United States, ⁹ the biggest drug threat in Palm Beach today, according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, is cocaine coming in from Mexico and South America.⁹

In 2019, cocaine was the second most commonly cited substance resulting in overdose deaths in Florida. In 2014 in West Palm Beach, the largest city in Palm Beach County, ranked third in the state of Florida, with 71 overdose fatalities involving the illicit drug.¹⁰

Marijuana

Marijuana is also locally grown in the more rural areas of Southeastern Florida, and hydroponic grow operations have expanded in recent years. Florida is now second only to California as a national producer of indoor-grown marijuana.⁹

More than half of the treatment admissions in Palm Beach County for primary marijuana abuse and dependency are for individuals under the age of 18.³

Substances Involved in Treatment Admissions

According to the 2016 NSDUH report, in Palm Beach County:

• Over 38,000 residents had an illicit substance use disorder.
• Almost 70,000 residents had an alcohol use disorder.
• Over 92,000 Palm Beach County residents had a diagnosed substance use disorder.

In Palm Beach County, 2015’s treatment admissions included:³

• 1,926 people entered alcohol treatment centers in West Palm Beach for alcohol problems.
• 1,225 people sought drug treatment centers in Palm Beach County for prescription opioid abuse.
• 1,105 people entered substance abuse treatment to overcome marijuana addiction.
• 571 people entered rehabs in Palm Beach County for heroin addiction.
• 143 people sought Palm Beach rehab programs to overcome benzodiazepine addiction.
• 295 people requested help from a Palm Beach rehab to overcome a cocaine addiction.
• 12 people entered a Palm Beach addiction center for methamphetamine addiction.
• 8 people requested treatment for MDMA abuse in Palm Beach County.
• 421 people sought drug treatment centers in Palm Beach County for other types of substance abuse treatment.

Of the 20.4 million people nationwide that were diagnosed with a substance use disorder in 2021, only 10.3% received treatment.¹¹ In an effort to help people get the treatment they need for substance use disorders, Palm Beach County has a Drug Court Program, where “citizen defendants” can voluntarily enter into drug treatment programs in order to have potential felony or misdemeanor charges dropped. 

What Drugs are Teens Using in South Florida?

The 2022 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS) lists percentages of self-reported substance use rates among teenagers in the state, ages 12-17. Just like the nationwide Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, FYSAS examines middle and high school grade levels. Palm Beach County had 782 students in grades 6-12 who participated in the survey.

The FYSAS survey found that the past 30-day prevalence of substance use for middle-school aged youth included:¹²

• 7.2% who consumed alcohol.
• 1.9% who participated in binge drinking.
• 4.9% who vaped.
• 4.3% who smoked or vaped marijuana.
• 2% who took over the counter medication.
• 5% who took any illicit drug except marijuana.
• 11.4% who drank alcohol or took any illicit drug.

Among high schoolers in the past 30 days (at the time of the survey):¹²

• 12% consumed alcohol.
• 7.5% participated in binge drinking.
• 9.7% vaped.
• 21% smoked or vaped marijuana.
• 3.6% took any illicit drug except marijuana.
• 19.7% consumed alcohol or took any illicit drug.

At both the middle and high school age, smoking cigarettes (0.3% and 0.9% respectively), taking prescription pain relievers (0.8% and 0.8% respectively), and taking depressants (0.6% and 1.8% respectively) was a statistically low number of youths in the survey.

One of the few drugs more popular than ever among adolescents in the U.S. is marijuana. The 2018 MTF found nearly 36% of 12^th graders in the country have ever used marijuana ever. There was also a significant increase of daily marijuana use among 8^th and 10^th graders.¹³

Causes of Youth Drug and Alcohol Use

Addiction has a strong genetic component. However, certain risk factors make young people more like to experiment with drugs and alcohol, which can lead to dependence and addiction. These include:

• Family history of substance use and addiction.
• Parental substance use.
• Favorable or permissive parental attitudes toward drug or alcohol use.
• Peer influence.
• Dysfunction or abuse in the home.
• Sexual abuse.
• Rejection of sexual orientation or gender identity by family.
• Mental health issues (e.g., depression, anxiety).

Alarming Drug Trends in South Florida

Although any use or abuse of alcohol or drugs is worrisome, there are some substances that are posing unique, troublesome questions and concerns in South Florida.

Illegal Stimulants

Illicit drug labs around the world and within the state of Florida have produced massive quantities of the illegal stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy) over the years.

Methamphetamine, meth for short, incidents in Palm Beach County have been escalating since 2011; however, numbers are still not as high as in other areas of the country, such as the Atlanta, Georgia, metro area.³

MDMA has often been considered a club drug, and in recent years, authorities have noticed a surge in a new version of ecstasy dubbed Molly on the streets. While often marketed as pure MDMA, Molly may actually contain multiple other substances, and even toxins and fillers, making it particularly dangerous.

Two South Florida crime labs tested seized Molly pills in 2012 and found that hundreds of them actually contained the dangerous stimulant methylone, often found in bath salts, instead of just the pure 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) as may have been advertised and expected.¹⁴

Flakka

Another relatively new designer drug hitting the streets of South Florida is called flakka, $5 insanity, or gravel, which is actually Alpha-PVP, a synthetic cathinone like those found in bath salts. At $3-5 a hit this drug is fairly cheap,  and may stay in an individual’s system for up to five days, causing paranoia, hallucinations, fever, and other dangerous psychoactive effects.¹⁵

In neighboring Broward County, between September 2014 and June 2015, there were 25 deaths attributed to flakka. In just the first four months of 2015, there were 10 exposure calls from residents of Palm Beach County to Florida’s Poison Information Center involving the drug alpha-PVP.3

In 2014, there was a 46% increase in crime lab cases involving synthetic cathinones, including alpha-PVP, throughout Southeast Florida from 2013. These drugs are often being added to e-cigarettes to be smoked, or vaped.³

Synthetic Cannabinoids

Another synthetic drug trend that may also involve the use of e-cigarettes is that of synthetic cannabinoids. These drugs usually contain high and potent levels of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, and in 2014 there was a 57% increase in crime lab cases in Southeastern Florida regarding these designer drugs.³

Between 2014 and the first four months of 2015, there have been four calls in Palm Beach County to the Poison Information Center involving synthetic cannabinoids, which may include drugs like Budder, Spice, and K2.³

The website dontbeaguinneapig.com was set up by several local Palm Beach County organizations to help educate youth, families, and parents on the potential dangers of these and more synthetic drugs.

Heroin and Fentanyl Use in Palm Beach, Florida

The county of Palm Beach, which is home to several cities, including West Palm Beach, has been hit especially hard by the heroin addiction and the overdose epidemic that is ravaging Florida.

In 2020, there were 622 accidental drug overdoses in Palm Beach County. Of those, 568 involved one or more opioid drug. These include:

• 166 Fentanyl only overdose deaths.
• 50 Fentanyl and heroin overdose deaths.
• 32 Fentanyl and other opioid overdose deaths.

With so many people struggling with heroin addiction, illicit fentanyl abuse has become one of the leading causes of opioid overdose in the country, including in Florida. Fentanyl is often mixed with heroin or sold in place of heroin, so people who struggle with heroin addiction may accidentally purchase this drug. This leads to numerous overdose deaths because fentanyl is more potent than heroin, so people accidentally ingesting fentanyl take too much without even realizing it.

Prescription Painkiller Deaths in Palm Beach County

Four out of five people in the state who struggle with heroin addiction began by misusing prescription painkillers, like oxycodone, hydrocodone, or morphine. Overdose deaths from these drugs are high in West Palm Beach. In 2020, medical examiners found:¹⁹

• 68 deaths involving oxycodone.
• 4 overdose deaths from just oxycodone.
• 18 deaths involved hydrocodone.

Many prescription painkiller deaths involve older adults. Of the 68 overdose deaths in West Palm Beach involving oxycodone, none were under 18 years old while 21 were between ages 35 and 50, and 12 were people over the age of 50.¹⁹

Morphine Overdose Rates in Palm Beach, Florida

West Palm Beach also experienced shockingly high rates of morphine-related overdose deaths in 2020:²⁰

• 103 deaths involved morphine.
• 85 were caused directly by morphine.
• 2 were caused by morphine alone, with no other drugs.

Of the 103 morphine overdose deaths, 30 were people 35 to 50 years old.²⁰

Methadone Usage in West Palm Beach

Methadone is also abused in West Palm Beach, and it led to 10 overdose deaths in 2020; 15 of those were caused by methadone, and one involved just methadone with no other drugs present. This suggests that people who struggle with methadone misuse are likely to be polydrug users. Because methadone is being prescribed to low-income individuals to ease pain, many people who overdosed on methadone were older adults; five of the 15 who died were over the age of 50, and 8 were between 35 and 50 years old.²⁰

Benzodiazepines Increase Overdose Death Risk

Benzodiazepine abuse and addiction have been called a shadow epidemic. These drugs are widely misused for non-medical reasons, but more often in combination with other drugs than alone.

Still, reports from medical examiners on overdose deaths in West Palm Beach have found that benzodiazepines play a large role in overdoses and poisoning deaths by themselves too. Between January and December 2020, there were 6017 deaths in Florida involving benzodiazepines. Of those, 1662 involved alprazolam (Xanax) statewide — with West Palm Beach accounting for 8% of that total.²⁰

Alcohol Struggles in Palm Beach County

According to data collected by FLHealthCharts.org, in 2019, 15.9% of adults in Palm Beach County reported binge drinking. This is less than the state’s overall reported binge drinking (18%), but is still significant.

West Palm Beach’s Cocaine Problem

Cocaine is a surprisingly large problem in southern Florida, especially compared to the rest of the country. Police see it as one of the largest drug threats in South Florida, claiming most of the cocaine in the state comes from South America.⁹

In West Palm Beach specifically, 225 people died due to, in part, cocaine. A total of 8 deaths were attributed to cocaine only, while in 182 it was the cause, although other substances were present.²⁰