Alcohol and Drug Rehab in Fort Lauderdale & Hollywood, FL

Returning to Work and School

Several community organizations in Broward County can prepare you to return to work or school after receiving substance abuse treatment.

Broward Community Schools

Broward Community Schools is a network of 17 schools in the Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood area. The schools serve more than 200,000 students each year with citizenship programs, high school classes, GED prep courses and adult and family literacy programs.

Broward County Library

The Broward County Library’s Learning Services department provides literacy classes to all Broward County residents. The library also offers an online high school where residents can pursue a high school diploma or career certificate.

Dave Thomas Education Center

The Dave Thomas Education Center in Coconut Creek offers adult basic education, GED and ESOL courses for individuals ages 16 and older. It also hosts a teen parent program designed to allow teenagers complete high school while their children attend a child development program.

Drug Trends in Broward County

Despite being a massive recovery community, Broward County has one of the highest rates of illicit drug use in the state. It was once home to a plague of pill mills, but a crackdown from law enforcement stifled much of the prescription pill trafficking in the area. As a gateway to South America and the Caribbean, it’s still a hub for illicit drug trafficking.

“South Florida has a reputation as party people and has always been ground zero for cocaine and oxycodone. Now it’s Flakka,” DEA special agent Kevin Stanfield told the Sun Sentinel in 2015. “It seems to be taking root. We hope we can stop this. I would rather South Florida be known for other things than the emergence of drug trends.”

Flakka

In 2014, Broward County led the nation in the number of Flakka cases reported to crime labs, according to a 2015 report from the Sun Sentinel. Flakka, also known as alpha-PVP, is a synthetic drug similar to bath salts that can cause hallucinations, paranoia and agitation. It killed 27 people in Broward County between September 2014 and June 2015.

Opioids

As prescription painkiller abuse declined, heroin abuse increased. Heroin hasn’t caused as many overdose deaths in Broward County as it has in other parts of the country, but heroin overdoses increased dramatically from 2011 to 2014. Treatment admissions for prescription opioids totaled 686 in 2014, down from a high of 1,459 in 2011, but heroin admissions increased from 128 in 2013 to 212 in 2014.

Cocaine

Cocaine abuse has remained a stable but widespread problem in Broward County for years. In 2014, there were 298 treatment admissions for crack and 173 for cocaine, accounting for 7.4 percent of all publically funded primary treatment admissions. That was a small decline from the 8.8 percent of admissions that crack and cocaine accounted for in 2013.

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Programs

The Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Broward County area is a region dedicated to fighting drug abuse. Government entities and nonprofits alike have teamed up to create programs and systems to curb substance use in the area.

Broward County Initiative to Combat Synthetic Drugs

In 2015, Broward County law enforcement and local organizations announced a collaborative effort to fight the growing Flakka epidemic in South Florida. The anti-Flakka campaign focuses on prevention by educating area residents of the drug’s dangers and training emergency response and medical officials how to properly treat and handle individuals on Flakka.

United Way of Broward County

The United Way of Broward County has enacted a number of its own initiatives to address substance abuse in the region. The United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse has created seven community Action Teams that focus on combating substance use in the area. Initiatives include promoting a substance-free prom experience with Prom Promise, working with the Florida Legislature to increase funding for behavioral health services and creating a Syringe Exchange Pilot Program.

NOPE (Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education) Task Force

The Broward County NOPE Task Force is a network of community leaders and law enforcement that goes into Broward County middle schools, high schools and colleges to deliver personal and direct presentations about the consequences of substance abuse. During presentations, a police officer explains the grim task of making death notifications to devastated families who have lost children to drug use.

Operation Medicine Cabinet

Operation Medicine Cabinet is a Broward Sheriff’s Office program that focuses on combating prescription drug use in Broward County. The three-pronged approach focuses on increasing law enforcement efforts to target pill mills and prescription drug traffickers, educating the public about the risks and dangers of prescriptions drugs, and hosting events that encourage residents to safely dispose of any unused, expired or unwanted medications.

Fort Lauderdale Prescription Drug Collection Boxes

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has installed prescription drug collection boxes around the city that allow residents to drop off or discard any unwanted or unused medications. These mailbox-sized containers allow residents to safely dispose of their prescription drugs, thus preventing the potential for abusing the medications.

Project Pride

For more than 20 years, Project Pride has been conducting successful drug abuse prevention programs in Broward County that aim to reduce early initiation of drug use in school children. Project Pride programs focus on young children and senior citizens, targeting overlooked populations of traditional drug-prevention programs. The core message of Project Pride is to promote self-esteem and self-worth.

Diversity, Prevention and Intervention Prosocial Clubs

The Diversity, Prevention and Intervention Department of Broward County has developed prosocial clubs to engage students and prevent drug abuse. These clubs, consisting of students under the guidance of a BCPS faculty member, meet regularly to work toward a common interest and aim to build self-esteem and promote positivity in students.

NAMI Broward County

The National Alliance on Mental Illness in Broward County strives to reduce the stigma associated with mental health disorders. It hosts support groups and educational classes for people affected by mental illnesses, and it advocates for legislative changes in the community and state. NAMI Broward County also provides information for people who live with a mental illness or care for someone who does.

SMART Recovery

SMART Recovery is a self-help program for people in recovery from substance use or other addictive disorders. The Pride Center in Fort Lauderdale and The Hollywood Beach Community Center in Hollywood each host two SMART Recovery meetings each week.