So Fla pain clinics attracting drug dealers from all over-is new law too weak to stop them?

While state and local law enforcement use up dwindling resources conducting raids on marijuana growers, they are unable to do anything to stop the real drug problem that continues to grow and prosper here in South Florida. Broward County has become the leader in the state for prescription drug abuse in Florida. 

In Broward County, overdoses linked to prescription pain killers increased in 2008 at a rate more than double than for Florida overall. With two other narcotics, anti-anxiety medication alprazolam and sedative diazepam, Broward saw increases that were not only more than double the state's but also 53 percent higher than what the county recorded in 2007.  "It's not just residents of South Florida involved in these deaths. It's people from all over the country, because we've become the source," said Jim Hall, head of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova Southeastern University, alluding to the area's booming pill mill industry and its penchant for attracting out-of-state visitors. Source: Sun Sentinel

The abuse of prescription pain medication is facilitated by the growing number of  "pain clinics" doing a booming business here.  It has become so widespread that in March, Broward County prosecutors asked a grand jury to look into the issue.

Police officials told a South Florida task force Tuesday they have identified more than 130 questionable pain clinics, more than twice the number in August. Many are owned by investors, some of whom have records for drug trafficking. Task force members said the state's lax laws allow profit-oriented pain clinics and doctors to dole out hundreds of addictive pills at a time to patients, creating a supply for drug dealers. Some come from other states to South Florida and go clinic to clinic getting pills. Source: Sun Sentinel

These clinics are very aggressive in their quest for profit.  One in particular pays patients $25 to bring in new customers. Until recently, Florida was one of only 12 states that did not have a law in place requiring all pain medication dispensed to be logged into a database so that possible abuse can be monitored. 

 On July 1 of this year a new law was passed in Florida that will require reporting of prescription pain medication to a state database.  The law  will take effect sometime in late 2010.  The delay is to give the Department of Health time to provide guidelines for the doctors and clinics that will need to comply. While insurance companies are able to keep track of these medications, many "pain clinics" operate on a cash only basis to avoid detection. 

Critics of the legislation claim that the law will be easy to circumvent and do nothing to prevent the pill mills from continuing to do business as usual.  For example, It allows the drug dispenser 14 days to log prescriptions into the database.  This certainly gives the user plenty of time to go to several clinics to restock their supply before the 14 days are up.  

Some doctors are uncomfortable with the invasion of privacy issues the law could interfere with and are considering filing a lawsuit to challenge the legality of the the disclosure requirement.  It is interesting that they are not uncomfortable writing prescriptions for patients they know will either abuse them or resell them. 

The new law does give more powers to inspect and oversee these doctors and clinics. While the placement of rules will be better than the complete lack of oversight that exists today, don't expect too much.  The penalty for not properly logging in dispensed medication is a misdemeanor. It is unfortunate that the legislature couldn't have come up with something that would send a more serious message. 

In the meantime, police can only watch as the parade of legal drug dispensers and users continue to make a mockery of the legal and medical system.

Police who track the operations say many pain clinics operate legally. But at some, drug-seekers can be seen driving from office to office, getting prescriptions for hundreds of pills at a time. Some clinics hire specially licensed "dispensing doctors" so they can sell their own narcotics to boost profits.  All of the nation's 50 top-selling "oxy" clinics are in Florida — 33 of them in Broward, where clinics sold 6.6 million oxy pills in the second half of last year. Clinics in Palm Beach County sold 1.8 million. A Broward drug-treatment physician recalled seeing a detox patient who was getting 700 oxys a month, a lethal dose."Florida is embarrassing itself," said Detective Lisa McElhaney, who investigates pain clinics at the Broward Sheriff's Office. Source: Sun Sentinel

Abuse of prescription pain medication is a growing problem all over the United States. "Each year, nearly 7 million Americans abuse prescription drugs. That's more than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, ecstasy and inhalants combined. Florida's drug czar Bill Janes says addiction to prescription drugs is an epidemic. "  Source: CBS

The State of Florida continues to distinguish itself and not in a good way.  How many more people need to die from abusing legal prescription drugs obtained from licensed doctors before these doctors are stripped of their licenses and put out of business?  I understand there is a need for pain medication when certain conditions apply.  However,when it is so blatantly obvious that these clinics are only interested in making a profit, and operate with a total disregard for the consequences of their actions, it's time to shut them down.  

If you are concerned someone you know may be abusing prescription pain medication, click here for the 10 warning signs of dependency. Source: Medicine.net

For more information on this topic see the links below:

DEA fact sheet-prescription drug abuse

DARE-Kids and pharmaceutical abuse

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