April 2011 - From the Editor

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From the Editor - From the Editor

Written by Stephanie L. Muller

Wednesday, 30 March 2011 09:28

Dear Readers,

Thousands of people travel to Florida every day – some to escape the bitter chill of winter, some to visit Disney World, some to buy pills.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Florida leads the nation in sales of the prescription narcotic, oxycodone, distributing more than a half-billion doses of the drug in 2009. To combat the growing number of disreputable pain clinics – more commonly referred to as “pill mills” – federal, state and local agencies have been conducting Operation Pill Nation since 2009.

The state made national headlines recently when DEA and local Florida law enforcement officials raided several pain clinics in South Florida. The Feb. 23 raids resulted in the arrests of 18 people, including six doctors. Law enforcement officials also seized property from the primary owner and manager of seven pain clinics and a pharmacy that were illegally distributing narcotics without medical justification. Among the items seized were 46 luxury cars, a trailer park and a home. The DEA estimates the owner was making a profit of $150,000 a day, and the U.S. Attorney has charged him with dispensing more than 660,000 dosages of oxycodone, most without a legitimate medical purpose.

This issue is continuing to make headlines as lawmakers, law enforcement officials and citizens all weigh in on Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to scrap the state’s planned prescription drug monitoring program, which would include a centralized database to help identify buyers who are accumulating large numbers of pills and the doctors who are overprescribing them.

In 2009, the state legislature, prompted by the proliferation of pain clinics across the state, directed the state’s office of drug control to create a prescription drug-monitoring database, however, Gov. Scott, a former hospital CEO, said the plan is too expensive and that it violates health privacy rights.

Politicians from other states are criticizing Gov. Scott’s decision to repeal the state’s prescription drug monitoring law. In particular officials from states such as Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio, are concerned that so many of their residents are traveling to Florida to illegally obtain these prescription pain medications. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) both have asked Gov. Scott to reconsider his decision on the drug-monitoring database, pointing to concerns about the interstate prescription drug trafficking that has been a long-time problem in their state.

However, recent actions by Gov. Scott, including his decision to turn down a $1 million donation from Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, to help pay for the state’s prescription monitoring database, don’t offer much hope to those hoping he will change his mind. Gov. Scott’s refusal to address the issue has prompted some lawmakers to ask the federal government to step in and start cracking down more on pain clinics that dispense prescription drugs, in an effort to stem the flow of trafficking across state lines.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) has even proposed legislation that would double the penalties and triple the fines for drug violators and use assets seized to fund prescription drug databases in states like Florida.

Although Kentucky and the Appalachian region seem to be hardest hit by the prescription drug epidemic, a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national study found in 10 years a fourfold increase in treatment admissions for prescription pain pill abuse, spanning every age, gender, race, ethnicity, education, employment level and region.

Prescription drug tracking databases have been established in 43 states in an effort to prevent “doctor shopping” and to identify doctors who are distributing these drugs illegally. Even White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske is weighing in on the issue, calling for a crackdown on Florida pill mills that he said are attracting drug dealers and addicts from other states. Of the nation’s top 100 doctors who dispense oxycodone, 92 are in Florida, according to the DEA.

Sincerely,

Stephanie L. Muller

Editor Counselor, The Magazine for Addiction Professionals

A Health Communications, Inc. Publication

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