Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lima told the delegation the sheriff's office will ask the legislature to add xylazine to Florida's trafficking statute and to align penalties with fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

“Representative Bankson will be filing that bill to add Xylazine...to the state's trafficking statute, allowing prosecutors more tools to pursue stronger charges,” Lima said. He described xylazine as “a dangerous drug often mixed with fentanyl” and said opioid antagonists such as naloxone may not reverse xylazine overdoses. Lima also thanked the delegation for prior support of law‑enforcement priorities, including sponsorship of last session’s law addressing devices that obscure license plates from cameras and toll systems (referred to in testimony as Senate Bill 44), which Lima said “gives us a stronger tool to hold offenders accountable.”

Lima highlighted Seminole County’s public‑private work on behavioral health and addiction treatment, including funding for the AdventHealth “Hope and Healing Partnership,” which he described as a local model providing recovery supports and co‑occurring behavioral health care. He said the sheriff’s office cannot “arrest our way out of addiction” and called for continued investment in treatment and crisis deflection programs.

Senator Broder and other delegation members praised the sheriff’s leadership statewide and noted the Florida Sheriffs Association’s role; lawmakers and sheriff emphasized that proposed trafficking penalties will carve out exemptions for licensed veterinarians who use xylazine for animals and will create quantity‑based penalties for trafficking.

Why it matters: The proposal would change state criminal law classification and penalties for substances involving xylazine, which advocates say will aid prosecution of traffickers. Delegation members pledged support while noting the bill will be drafted and go through the regular legislative process.

No formal vote occurred on policy during the meeting.