June 24, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- Florida to Clamp Down On Pain Clinics?
Article provided by Stepniak & Park, P.A.
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The Florida legislature has approved a measure creating a statewide prescription database designed to drastically cut illegal trafficking in pharmaceutical drugs.
In recent years, drug addicts and traffickers have increasingly flocked to "pain clinics" in Broward County and Palm County, where powerful, addictive pharmaceutical drugs are available from doctors in a cash-only business.
The doctors write lucrative prescriptions for patients using medical tests purchased in an underground market.
According to federal data, in the last six months of 2008, doctors at Broward County's clinics wrote prescriptions for more than 6.5 million doses of oxycodone, a pain-killing opiate popular among drug addicts.
Police say an 80 mg dose of oxycodone purchased for about $4.50 in a clinic has a street value of about $80.
The new Florida law, if signed by the governor, will track prescriptions and patients, making "doctor shopping" much more difficult. Florida is the largest of 12 states without such a database.
South Florida is now home to approximately 150 pain clinics, more than 2.5 times as many as existed in 2008. Because many of the clinics specializing in the illicit drug trade don't accept insurance -- they operate strictly on a cash basis -- they are unlicensed and unregulated.
The management of pain with narcotics is recognized as a legitimate medical practice, but police and health care advocates say many of the pain clinics are little more than pill dispensers catering to addicts and drug sellers in a black market with an impact felt across the South.
Addicts and drug dealers from across the region trek to the clinics for highs and profits. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that in rural Bath County, Kentucky -- with a population below 12,000 -- nine overdoses from Florida oxycodone were reported in just eight months.
Experts blame the proliferation of clinics for an explosion in Florida drug overdoses, including a 107 percent leap in oxycodone-related deaths in two years. More than 3,000 Floridians died of overdoses of prescription pharmaceuticals last year alone.
Because of lawmakers' concerns over medical record privacy issues, database legislation failed to pass the Florida legislature in seven previous attempts. Though the bill had overwhelming support this year, 13 legislators have written Governor Crist, asking him to veto the measure.
Article provided by Stepniak & Park, P.A.
Visit us at
www.stepniaklaw.com/---
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