Attorney General selects Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford for group to combat opioids

Thanks to his efforts to get the opioid crisis under control in Northeast Florida, City Councilman Bill Gulliford has now been selected to the new statewide Opioid Abuse Working Group.

Attorney General Ashley Moody made the announcement today, naming 17 others from around Florida to work together to stop the problem. Moody had previously announced Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma would be the chair of the new initiative.

Gulliford says he got the call from Moody a few days ago, and he's excited to see what the new group can accomplish. He says he was told his work with "Project Save Lives" is a major reason for his selection.

"As you always do in any type of task force organization meeting like that, you share experiences and you find out somebody is doing something you hadn't thought about," Gulliford says.

He says UF Health recently finished a report for the Project Save Lives. He sent that to Lemma in an effort to share knowledge within the new group.

But Gulliford says he's also excited about being a part of the new project because Jacksonville could use more money from the state to combat the opioid problem in the area.

"When they start dolling out money, I want to hold our hand up first," he says.

Moody says the plan is to gather information and best practices from across Florida, because addressing the opioid epidemic is one of her top priorities.