By National Public Radio
MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: We’re going to hear now from a county in Florida that, like many places around the country, has seen a dramatic rise in drug overdoses - Manatee County on Florida’s west coast. They recorded 216 emergency calls for overdoses in July alone. Last July, that number was 17. Michael Dunn is a firefighter with Cedar Hammock Fire Rescue in Bradenton, and responding to overdoses has become part of his daily routine.
MICHAEL DUNN: We’ve heard words thrown around lick epidemic. And the word epidemic’s been used in newspapers a lot. The word epidemic, to me, is something that you kind of sit back and watch. This is more like a war because there’s people dying in our community.
BLOCK: And what does that mean for you on a typical day?
Full story: In a Florida County, Overdose Epidemic is ‘More Like a War’