WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – A Palm Beach County commissioner is asking Gov. Rick Scott to declare a public health emergency that would help Florida jurisdictions deal with problems related to opioid-abuse.

Melissa McKinlay wrote a letter to the governor last week asking for the help since she said local governments can’t tackle the problems alone.

The Palm Beach Post reports (http://bit.ly/2l0SZl7 ) that the commissioner hadn’t heard back from the governor’s office yet.

The newspaper has reported that heroin-related hospital costs in Florida have reached about $4.1 million a day.

McKinlay says in the letter that other states like Virginia and Massachusetts have declared health emergencies in the wake of spikes in heroin deaths.