{"id":433735,"date":"2026-10-21T05:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T05:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/433735\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T05:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T05:44:10","slug":"fentanyl-deaths-down-60-since-establishment-of-safe-grant-program-desantis-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/433735\/","title":{"rendered":"Fentanyl deaths down 60% since establishment of \u2018SAFE\u2019 grant program, DeSantis says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792561450_721_author_avatar.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Default author avatar\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke during a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Orlando, announcing the latest results from a yearslong state effort to curtail fentanyl deaths. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">DeSantis discussed highlights of the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication (S.A.F.E.) in Florida grant program, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdle.state.fl.us\/FDLE-Grants\/Office-of-Planning-and-Budgeting\/Programs\/SAFE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">established in 2023<\/a> to bolster law enforcement&#8217;s ability to combat illegal fentanyl activity \u2014 via investigations or otherwise \u2014 by providing reimbursement for the following, as they relate to such investigations:<\/p>\n<p>OvertimeRelevant Travel CostsPurchase of Investigative SuppliesEquipment Purchases (must be pre-approved by the FDLE S.A.F.E. Executive Board via Funding Request Form)Relevant Contractual ServicesTraining Costs (must be pre-approved by the FDLE S.A.F.E. Executive Board via Funding Request Form)Other Costs Associated with Cases Focusing on Fentanyl Eradication<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"3\">Since the S.A.F.E. in Florida program was established in 2023, DeSantis said in-state fentanyl deaths have fallen by almost 60%. This is an improvement from last year, when DeSantis announced a figure of 46% during a news conference <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesh.com\/article\/fentanyl-deaths-drop-florida\/71295893\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">that September<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">The governor mentioned, too, the recent successes of anti-drug-trafficking operations &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/article\/florida-ag-james-uthmeier-boynton-beach\/74119689\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Icebreaker<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polksheriff.org\/news-investigations\/2026\/09\/03\/pcso-s-operation-end-of-worlds-multi-agency-investigation-disrupts-fentanyl-and-methamphetamine-drug-trafficking-organization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">End of Worlds<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinellassheriff.gov\/Contents\/ContentItems\/4hpc2g18cpa2kv5vp8rjk7whnv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hall of Fame<\/a>&#8221; and others.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">&#8220;And so on and on it goes with a whole bunch of successes for this. I think we&#8217;ve sent the appropriate deterrence message: that you shouldn&#8217;t be doing this in the United States, but if you are going to do it, you do not want to do it in the state of Florida,&#8221; DeSantis said.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">DeSantis was joined Tuesday by Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Sara Carter and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Larry Keefe. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">&gt;&gt;Full news conference in video player below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke during a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Orlando, announcing the latest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7877,7289,14399,660,139,141,140,2451,25729,918],"class_list":["post-433735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida-department","tag-gov-ron-desantis","tag-news-conference","tag-office","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-p-m","tag-video-player","tag-wesh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}