Watch: Palm Beach Post's addiction treatment forum: Fixing the Florida Shuffle - next steps
Four people with in-depth knowledge of South Florida's addiction treatment industry are exploring the problems and solutions to the deadly cycle of recovery, relapse and return known as "the Florida Shuffle" in this panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. this evening, Jan. 17, 2024, from the Palm Beach Post's YouTube channel.
Amanda Davidson
Amanda Davidson has experienced the Florida Shuffle firsthand.
Originally from Oregon, she made the pilgrimage to Florida in hopes of seeking long-term recovery from a fentanyl addiction. What happened to her in Palm Beach County informs her position that continued reform is needed to address the corruption of bad actors in this industry.
Read The Post's investigation: Florida Shuffle: State's failure to oversee addiction treatment leaves patients in deadly danger
At the least, she says, they do little to address the conditions necessary for sustained sobriety, and at their worst, they play a starring role in the state’s overdose crisis. With a master’s in public administration, Davidson is speaking out for evidence-based policy efforts addressing the epidemic that has claimed the lives of so many she has known and loved.
Dr. Robert A. Moran
Dr. Robert A. Moran completed medical school at the Mount Sinai school of medicine in New York, where he was awarded the Dr. Morris B. Bender Family Award for Excellence in the Neurosciences. He subsequently attained board certification in psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, addiction medicine and preventive medicine from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American Board of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Preventive Medicine.
Moran founded and serves as CEO/medical director of Family Center for Recovery, an inpatient/outpatient psychiatric treatment facility with an integrated transitional living program in Palm Beach County.
More: Help coming on addiction treatment centers
Alan Johnson and Dr. Belma Andric
Davidson and Moran are joined by Alan Johnson, Palm Beach County chief assistant state attorney and Addiction Recovery Task Force leader, and Dr. Belma Andric, county Health Care District chief medical officer.
Leading the task force originally formed in 2016 to tackle exploitation, fraud and abuse in residential recovery settings, Johnson has worked across law-enforcement, medical and social-service sectors to form safe, supportive policies and structures within the community and state.
Searching for answers to our county's drug overdose crisis, Andric brought essential services together to form the county's first Addiction Stabilization Unit, a drug overdose trauma center that has become a statewide model.
From their frontline perspectives of the failed responses and encouraging advances in efforts to end the opioid epidemic's toll, they discuss their experiences and will take questions from Palm Beach Post investigative reporter Antigone Barton and from live and online audiences.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Post drug addiction treatment forum at PBSC
