Leaders: Efforts To Crack Down On Pill Mills Is Working

March 15, 2012

Efforts to crack down on Florida’s pill mills have already shown results, Gov. Rick Scott and other state officials said Wednesday.

When Scott took office in January 2011, seven Floridians a day were dying of prescription-drug overdoses, and people from other states came here to make their buys.

Now, according to the 2011 Interim Drugs Identified in Deceased Persons Report, the number of prescription-drug deaths has fallen nearly eight percent compared to the same period in 2010.

And since their creation a year ago, Florida’s Drug Enforcement Strike Force Teams have made 2,150 arrests and seized nearly half a million pills, 391 weapons and $4.7 million, said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

“We’ve gone from being known as the ‘Oxy Express’ to being a role model for our sister states,” Bailey said.

As a result of law enforcement efforts and a new state law, which went into effect on July 1, oxycodone purchases by Florida doctors have dropped 97 percent from 2010 to 2011, officials said.

In 2010, Florida was home to 90 of the nation’s top 100 Oxycodone-buying doctors and 53 of its top 100 Oxycodone-buying pharmacies. But over the last year, the number of such doctors has been reduced by 85 percent, to 13, and the number of pharmacies has dropped 64 percent, to 19; the number of pain clinics has dropped from 800 to 508 statewide.

What’s more, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported in January that 21 doctors in Georgia and 11 in Tennessee are now among the nation’s top 100.

Bailey, Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interim Surgeon General Steven Harris and other officials touted the success of the state’s efforts Wednesday. Bondi, who worked with her counterpart in Kentucky, Attorney General Jack Conway, recalled a trip there to meet with Conway and anti-drug advocates.

“I had to hug a mother who lost her daughter two years ago to prescription drugs, and those drugs were bought here in Florida,” Bondi said. “So hopefully, that’s going to stop.”

The new law restricts doctors from prescribing the type of opiate drugs that are often abused, leading to overdoses and deaths, said Harris, interim head of the state Department of Health.

Among those arrested by the strike forces were 34 doctors, and DOH is reviewing the emergency suspension order used when licensed medical practitioners pose a threat to the public safety.

The amount of time it takes for a suspension to occur has been reduced from an average of more than five months to 30 days or less in half the cases, Harris said.

Florida law enforcement officers, meanwhile, are breathing sighs of relief as the allure of the state’s pill mills abates – and with it, a powerful magnet for related crimes.

Compared to last year, said Winter Park Police Chief Brett Railey, the number of drug offenses in Central Florida has plummeted.

“Over 650 arrests have been made, numerous illicit pain management clinics have been closed, and dozens of unethical medical professionals have been stopped from doing business in our region.”

Railey said an important tool has been the availability of strike force funding, without which many of the cases would have gone unaddressed. The statewide strike force, under the coordination of FDLE, works with seven regional teams, each led by a police chief and sheriff.
But law enforcement officials warned that much work remains – and that criminals will find new ways to dispense their wares.

Sales are already migrating to online locations.

“We will not be able to restore our state’s good name overnight,” said Steve Casey, executive director of the Florida Sheriffs Association, “but we are making progress.”

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

5 Responses to “Leaders: Efforts To Crack Down On Pill Mills Is Working”

  1. AUFAN-1 on March 16th, 2012 7:56 pm

    srodger comments
    What do you want them to do about lortab? There are people that need them everyday. Do you want them to make it even harder for those of use that do abide by the rules and the law to not be able to get what is perfectly legal and effective.

  2. rb on March 15th, 2012 9:19 am

    Wonder what Alabama stats are ?

  3. srodgers on March 15th, 2012 8:42 am

    I for one am proud that something is being done about the prescription “junkies” not only in Fla. but other states as well.
    For years law enforcement was focused on the streets, when most people simply had to go to there own medicine cabinet to find there drug of choice.
    I wish it had not taken so many people dying for them to shift there focus.
    Doctors that over prescribe seem to be only interested in the money, not the patients quality of life.
    Now I wish they would do something about Loratab, seems like everyone I know think they cant live without it, when truth is an aspirin or ibuprofin would probably do the trick.
    Its a shame that people that are honest and need the medication to help live there lives have to be affected by the dishonest Drs, and the people that abuse the medication.

  4. Molino-Anon on March 15th, 2012 6:12 am

    Yeah it’s worked so well that people with serious disabilities and muscular diseases can’t even find a pain management doctor taking their insurance and can not get anything to help with their quality of lives living in pain.

    Way to go!

  5. 429SCJ on March 15th, 2012 6:11 am

    I wonder what it is about being from Kentucky and Tennesee, that makes people gravitate toward this drug?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News