When I started writing this last month, I intended it to be a short piece about the Jacksonville Transportation Authority hosting Narcan training courses aboard its Safety on the Move bus. As well as the Authority’s efforts in solving the city’s opioid overdose crisis. However, I soon found myself lost in a world of local government committees, substance abuse programs, scandals, and of course, racism.
It all began when I saw a social media post promoting JTA’s opioid overdose prevention campaign. Apparently, it is the first of its kind in the country. The Biden Administration was so proud, the White House website touted the benefits of JTA’s program.
“The first mission of the Safety on the Move Bus is to take Narcan training to underserved communities. We have several partners that we have partnered with to ensure that this happens, and it is data driven and trend driven,” Julie Bonsall, representing JTA, told the camera.
The JTA lady tried to explain why the program is a no-brainer for the Authority. Bless her heart. “A lot of people believe we just move people from point A to point B. But I’ve always been under the impression that we move souls. And that we work with humans. And what better point are we already going into the community as being a point of providing training and providing help directly into the community because we’re already going into the community where people are,” Bonsall said.
Huh? Move souls. Work with humans. Those fluent in bureaucratic doublespeak understand the message: Low-income minorities are the most at risk for an opioid related overdose, therefore government and local nonprofit prevention efforts must target “underserved communities” to reverse Jacksonville’s race-based opioid crisis.
But is that true? Are the so-called underserved, who rely on JTA’s services, the most at-risk demographic in Jacksonville? Attempting to answer my own question only led to more questions, more research, and more than a month of rewrites.
According to Duval’s health department white males aged 25-34 are the most likely to experience non-fatal opioid, and all drug overdoses, than “women or other races and ethnicities.” Also, Duval’s health department recommends “overdose prevention efforts should target these groups to maximize impacts.”
If the numbers show white dudes are the majority of opioid-related overdose victims, why are stakeholders involved in the opioid epidemic, including local government and JTA, playing the race card?
After a few minutes researching the topic, a clear narrative begins to take shape.
The opioid crisis is white America’s crack epidemic.
Professional race hustlers believe the nation’s opioid epidemic began, spread, and continues because of medical racism. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the explanation here:
Just to point out even more ridiculousness: Another video claims racism actually saved black lives from opioid-related death. According to an analysis by the New York Times, medical racism saved the lives of 14,000 black patients. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LalIJrr2HrI full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/25/upshot/opioid-epidemic-blacks.html
Local and state governments across the country began suing drug manufacturers and eventually the second largest settlement in U.S. history was awarded: $50 billion. (The 1998 tobacco settlement of $206 billion was the largest to date.) KFF Health News.Org, a website tracking use and misuse of settlement funds, claims Florida has received $273,135,888.61 to date, and expects more than $1.3 billion throughout the next two decades. (https://kffhealthnews.org/opioid-settlements/)
Not letting a good crisis go to waste, COJ jumped onboard the litigation bandwagon and secured a substantial payout a few years ago. Despite City Council already having a million-dollar taxpayer funded special committee, Opioid Abuse Prevention Committee (established July 2017), and the substance abuse program, Project Save Lives, the city still needed an even newer government committee to oversee settlement distribution. Jacksonville’s new new, seven-member Opioid and Substance Use Disorder (OSUD) Grants Committee was formed to divvy up $80 million throughout 18 years (City Ordinance 2023-350-E). The mayor picks three voting members, City Council president gets three picks, and the seventh standing member is the health administrator of the Florida Department of Health in Duval County.
Richmond Wynn serves as the chair of OSUD. He holds a Ph.D. in mental health and is a licensed mental health counselor.
Wynn, who identifies as black, gay, and male, is the chief diversity officer of UNF’s Brooks College of Health and vice president of the college. Wynn is also quite the professional race hustler. Wynn’s passion to see the world through oppressed-colored glasses and teach college students how to do the same, makes him perfectly professionally credentialed to award free money based on race or any other “stigmatized identity,” without raising any red flags.
To learn about Wynn’s race-based work, click the link to watch his “race healing and reconciliation conversation” on some random white dude’s YouTube channel with 34 subscribers. Wynn explains to the host, potential exposure to hypothetical oppression and racism in America causes substance abuse among made up stigmatized identity groups.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIUSyvmarZU
According to Jacksonville.gov, the “goal” of the OSUD Grant Committee is to “distribute opioid settlement funds throughout the City of Jacksonville in a way that is equitable.” Equitable/equity is code for prioritizing skin color and or “stigmatized identity” above all else. It is the antithesis of equality. After funds are awarded based on race or superficial labels, the committee will then make sure spending is “efficient and effective in order to combat the opioid crisis.”
The committee’s first meeting was held in September 2023.
The OSUD committee created a point-based application process to decide who gets a check and how much. The money is supposed to go towards organizations providing “prevention, treatment, and recovery support” programs for opioid related substance abuse.
According to Addictions.com, there are more than 50 outpatient rehabilitation facilities, 30 inpatient facilities, and upwards of 20 detox clinics throughout the Jacksonville area. OSUD Grant Committee selected 19 organizations in FY 2023-2024 to receive money, totaling $6,542,250.
The following are just a few of the organizations selected in 2023.
(full list here: https://www.jacksonville.gov/departments/boards-and-commissions/opioid-settlement-proceeds-grants-program )
JTA’s Safety on the Move partner, Community Coalition Alliance (CCA), received $493,940.72 for its opioid overdose program called “Duval’s Approach to Reduce Opioid Overdose (DAROO). CCA is federally funded nonprofit created to “mentor” other nonprofits. It is another one of those taxpayer-funded groups within a group, within a group type of organizations connecting other publicly funded nonprofits together using all the same “data-driven decision-making, evidence-based strategies” trying to make “communities safer, healthier, and drug free.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida received $496,202 for anti-drug, alcohol, and premature sex classes for young students as part of its SMART Moves Program. https://www.bgca.org/programs/health-wellness/smart-moves/
Baptist Medical was awarded $290,487 for a “Path to Sobriety” program for IV drug users suffering from a heart condition caused by intravenous drug use. However, the “OSPG contract” with Baptist Health System was terminated because researchers “had not encountered any patients who met the eligibility criteria of their proposed program.”
The Sulzbacher Center received $996,782 from the committee for a substance abuse program and a recovery program. According to the committee’s meeting notes, Sulzbacher’s program hands out “easy to access” low dose opioid medication “without a lot of strings attached,” to help treat opioid addiction. The program has low-barrier entry, meaning little to no rules for those accessing treatment. Everyone is eligible to receive meds and housing, “including those who are undocumented.” Sulzbacher’s program has reportedly “screened 41 patients.”
Yoga 4 Change received $149,775 for its Preventing Opioid and Substance Use with Evidence-Based Resilience Skills for Youth program. Yoga 4 Change does not have its own local facility, so the nonprofit’s diverse group of pretty much all white instructors bring yoga to their clients physically or virtually. https://www.y4c.org/team/
Classes foster “holistic wellbeing, resilience, and transformation for individuals and communities through evidence-based trauma-informed curricula.” Trauma-informed curricula for stretching? We scoff, but that language dominates universities, government, and the nonprofit sector.
Yoga 4 Change already has a working relationship with taxpayers. The state-wide nonprofit is listed as one of the organizations involved in Duval County’s federally funded Overdose Data to Action Program (OD2A). Undeterred by that, as well as funding from corporations like Humana, Baptist Health, and Jaguars Foundation the OSUD committee awarded the nonprofit a year’s salary to transform Jacksonville’s youth one ‘evidence-based trauma-informed’ downward facing dog at a time.
According to OSUD’s meeting notes, Yoga 4 Change’s director told the grant committee another local nonprofit called Inspire to Rise would like to offer yoga classes focusing on “youth and prevention.” The nonprofit’s website reads, “when a family system cannot meet the needs for healthy growth; it is the desire of Inspire to Rise to meet those needs,” and make a “community whole.” OSUD awarded the organization $195,024.15 for its Inspired Youth Program. Inspire to Rise is also involved with Duval’s OD2A program.
New Hope Education and Addiction Services (Florida Recover Schools/River Oak Center) was awarded $89,468. The organization is an alternative high school for teens recovering from substance abuse and addiction. According to the committee’s notes, the agency is “refusing to pay back the City of Jacksonville following a payment error,” of $2,624. OSUD also accused the organization of “never” submitting an audit and “failing to comply with other terms of the contract.” The committee added the organization to the city’s noncompliance list, labeling the nonprofit ineligible to apply for or receive city funds.
Serenity Granted was given $30,500 towards its Operation Opioid Abatement Director. Serenity Granted’s website sells wristbands, t-shirts, and books written by Richard Preston. Preston is a former addict, who is now the owner and president of New Life Jax Recovery Services.
Serenity Granted and New Life Jax Recovery Services share the same mailing address. Which I found odd until learning from the committee’s notes, Serenity Granted is ‘doing business as’ New Life Jax Recovery Services and the “Operation Opioid Abatement Director,” isn’t a job title like I assumed, it is the name of Preston’s recovery support program. There is no mention in the committee’s notes of how many patients Preston’s recovery program has served, however it was noted all were “white males, aged 32 to 50 years old,” and live in the “32246 and 32258 zip codes.” Neither zip considered an overdose hot spot by the OSUD.
Preston is also the executive director of Project Save Lives. The opioid grant committee awarded Project Save Lives $20,535.36 for its “OUD Residential Director.” Project Save Lives shares the same mailing address as Serenity Granted and New Life Jax Recovery Services.
In a totally unrelated story, in 2019 Preston began serving as secretary of the board for River Region Human Services. The treatment facility is the same place where Preston got sober. The taxpayer funded rehab facility abruptly closed at the end of 2023 due to massive financial mismanagement. Preston admitted to local media he was aware of complaints for years, but didn’t do anything about it.
Oh, and not that it matters… according to a draft of the OSUD committee’s minutes from February 24, Serenity Granted “will be placed on the Chapter 118 Non-Compliance List the next time the Council Auditor’s Office releases an updated report.” The committee claims Serenity Granted was “overpaid due to misinterpretation of a line item.” The organization missed the deadline to pay back the funds, forfeiting its ability to receive any city funding, until doing so.
Moving on.
The committee’s inaugural pool of organizations awarded settlement cash shrunk from 19, to just nine for FY 2024-2025 according to the list posted online. (Clarifying for the record: OSUD funded 14 FY24/25 contracts total among nine different organizations.)
Since there aren’t very many, let’s take a look at each organization selected.
The CCA was awarded $432,000, a little less than the previous year’s sum, for the same DAROO program.
According to the committee’s notes, since 2017 the coalition has “brought together stakeholders in Jacksonville” for Drug Epidemiology Networks (DENs) meetings to “look at data.” DEN is comprised of two subcommittees, data and recovery, which get together to “talk about what are the issues, share ideas, and make ideas a reality.” The group’s director told the OSUD committee the goals for the program are to expand data collection, make data-informed decisions, create data, bring in “great” speakers, build a “data tool” to look at “data points,” collaborate, offer trainings, create marketing campaigns, and hand out Narcan during “outreach events.” Besides passing out Narcan, the organization basically received half a million dollars to do just about the same thing I have done at home for free, working off an eight-year-old refurbished DCPS teacher laptop.
Hubbard House is a local domestic violence shelter. The shelter was awarded $169,582 for its Rise! program. Based off the committee’s point-based award system, Hubbard House’s Rise! program ranked #1 under the “Prevention” category. To date, I cannot find anything about the program offered by the domestic abuse shelter. Several emails sent asking about the program have yet to be answered.
Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) Jacksonville is a free clinic for the working uninsured. VIM received $274,255 for its Forever Health: Opioid Prevention Program. The committee ranked it as #2 in prevention. According to the committee’s notes, the clinic does not prescribe opioids or addictive medications, however patients are “at risk for opioid misuse.” VIM plans to spend the money on “looking at innovative prevention strategies,” such as pet therapy, smoking cessation, patient education, and Saturday yoga classes with Yoga 4 Change.
Rounding out the top three in prevention, Inspire to Rise received another $300,129 for its Inspired Youth Program.
Sulzbacher Center received in total $812,875 for treatment and recovery programs.
NAMI Jacksonville is the National Alliance on Mental Health’s local chapter. The nonprofit received $121,650 for “connection recovery support.” According to the group’s website, ‘connection recovery support’ are free mental health and “co-occurring substance use” support groups. Weekly hour and a half classes are “designed for adults (18+) with mental health conditions,” and are “led by people with mental health conditions.”
Last go around, Gateway Community Services received a little less than half a million dollars. This round, the organization received $2,208,139. Out of that $2 million, $426,018 is for a “Reduce the Stigma” program. I cannot find anything about the program on the group’s website, or from the committee’s posted meeting notes to date. According to the internet, “stigma” is the shame drug users feel from “society’s misconception” drug use is a “moral failing” instead of a “disease,” causing users to feel too stigmatized to seek help, which is sober society’s fault.
$282,120 went towards Gateway’s Mobile MAT Unit. $500,000 for “Project Save Lives-Housing.” $500,000 for “Project Independence,” and $500,000 for its “Project Save Lives- Hospital Bridge Program.” You’ll recall Project Save Lives is the City’s substance prevention program, not to be confused with Preston’s nonprofit, which shares the same name.
Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition (NFHSC) was awarded $390,820 for its Azalea Rose Project. Azalea Rose Project works with substance-exposed newborns ensuring healthy birth outcomes through the child’s first birthday. NFHSC is also involved with Duval’s federally funded OD2A program.
In 2023 Operation New Hope (ONH) received $273,191 for its Ready 4 Work program. FY2024/2025, the nonprofit received $360,064 for the same program, which helps those with a criminal history reconnect with the “workforce, their families, and community.” Reggie Fullwood is currently ONH’s president and CEO. He is also a convicted felon. Jacksonville’s former democrat City Councilmen lost his seat in the Florida Legislature and his job as the director of a local nonprofit after Fullwood allegedly got caught spending campaign contributions on personal items like booze, groceries and jewelry, as well as doing something naughty with tax records and donated campaign cash. He pled guilty in federal court to wire fraud and failing to file tax returns.
According to news reports, Fullwood wouldn’t stop crying while waiting for the judge’s ruling, so he was given a 15-minute recess to get his s*%t together. After the break, he was still teary-eyed while being sentenced to a slap on the wrist. Reportedly the judge and prosecutors were lenient on Fullwood because they thought he’s already suffered enough losing his job, his marriage, and having to move in with his sister that jail time wasn’t necessary despite his federal conviction. Instead, he was sentenced to six months home detention at his sister’s house, three years of probation, and $42,000 in restitution.
The leadership of Operation New Hope wasn’t bothered by Fullwood’s conviction, nor was the federal judge who released him from probation a year early so he could become the program director for ONH in May 2019. The Jaguars didn’t care about Fullwood’s federal conviction either and chose him as the recipient of their 2023 Inspire Change Changemaker Award for “going above and beyond in the pursuit of social justice.” He was also given a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation and two Las Vegas Super Bowl tickets.
Now that we understand where OSUD is focusing COJ’s “prevention, treatment, and/or recovery” efforts, let’s take a closer look at Duval County’s opioid overdose data and put all of this into perspective.
The top of the city’s Opioid Settlement Proceeds Grants Program website goes full ‘shock and awe’ mode with three statistics. The first is completely irrelevant. The second is also irrelevant and misleading. The third is good news, but still irrelevant.
The first bullet point claims, “more than 3,339 Duval County residents died of an unintentional overdose death from 2016 to 2023.” A sad reality, however telling us how many people died after using drugs over an eight-year period is pointless if the goal of the settlement is to prevent fatal opioid overdoses. The next statistic claims between 2018 and 2022 “the rate of opioid overdose deaths in Duval County increased by 67%.” Another sad data point, but we still don’t understand what that number means. The third bullet point suggests opioid related calls to JFRD dropped 36% between 2023 and 2024. A positive trend but still avoids the missing piece.
Unable to figure it out on my own, I asked the OSUD, as well as the health department for clarification. The responses stunned me. Both have no idea because both rely on the state government to collect our local data. COJ doesn’t even know how many fatal opioid overdoses occurred in 2024 because the state is more than a year behind.
How can OSUD committee members calculate whether spending millions of dollars is making a difference if they don’t have the data? Spoiler alert: they can’t.
The only data we have from 2024 is provided by JFRD to the OSUD. According to the committee’s notes, throughout 2024 “JFRD responded to 1,835 suspected overdose patients.”
Out of those 1,835 suspected overdose patients there were:
- 1,211 white patients.
- 477 black patients.
- 147 Hispanic/Other/Unknown patients.
- 55 patients 19 or younger.
- 1,174 male patients.
- 661 female patients.
The notes also reveal a majority of overdoses occur in and around downtown Jacksonville (32202 zip code). However, the numbers are the total of all suspected overdose patients, not a reflection of overdose deaths.
Florida’s Substance Abuse Dashboard has been keeping track of overdose deaths since 2015. That year the state listed 143 opioid overdose deaths. By 2017, 419 people died from opioids. The number dropped to 274 in 2018 and reached its peak in 2020 at 498. Since then, numbers began to fall, dipping to 443 in 2023. Again, we don’t know how many overdose patients died in 2024 because the State hasn’t told us yet.
Those in charge of Duval’s data have known for almost a decade that adult white males are most at risk. The Health Department even stated prevention efforts should target adult white males. However, according to OSUD’s meeting notes from December, the head of the committee noticed the opposite. “It appeared that prevention services reached a higher number of Black and African American individuals, but not treatment services,” Wynn said.
Remember, the JTA lady bragged on camera the Authority’s opioid prevention campaign’s efforts are “data driven” and “trend driven.”
The opioid crisis is a serious issue. The OSUD committee has a real opportunity to transform lives. All they have to do is follow their own data telling them the demographic most at risk of an opioid related overdose is a white guy somewhere around downtown. JTA passing out Narcan along underserved bus lines combined with OSUD using skin color as the guiding principle for saving the demographic coming in second is counterintuitive, at best.
After learning JFRD is responding to 1,800 overdose calls a year and shrinking, the city government investing $80 million towards a dramatically dissipating cause is perhaps not the best use of public money. In 2023, 9,707 people died in Duval County. The number one cause of death was heart disease with cancer coming in second. The data tells us, if committee members really want to save lives, $80 million would be better spent on gym memberships and oncologists.
