New Legislation Leads to Pill Mill Crackdown in Florida

It’s a dubious distinction, but Florida has earned its reputation as the so-called “Oxy Express,” with thousands flocking to the state’s more than 1,000 pain clinics to obtain prescription drugs – often illegally or under questionable circumstances. Those who doubt the severity of the problem need to know only one statistic: 89 percent of all the Oxycodone sold in the US in 2010 was bought through Florida doctors.

The days of the Florida pill mills may soon be coming to an end, though. Officials are using tougher laws to disrupt the pipeline that moves the drugs north. In the past year, more than 400 clinics were either shut down or closed their doors. And it doesn’t stop there. Prosecutors have indicted dozens of pill mill operators, and nearly 80 doctors have seen their licenses suspended for prescribing mass quantities of pills without clear medical need.

New laws are also cutting off distribution. As of July, Florida doctors are barred, with a few exceptions, from dispensing narcotics and addictive medicines in their offices or clinics. The changes have had an immediate effect, with doctors’ purchases of Oxycodone falling by 97 percent in the first half of 2011.

Law enforcement agencies know they can’t just focus on doctors, though. Pharmacies play a key role, too. The number of applications to open new pharmacies in Florida has nearly doubled in the past two years, accounting for up half of all the requests in the entire country, according to the latest Drug Enforcement Administration figures.

One way to tell the new measures are working is to look at what’s happening on the streets. The price of scoring illegal Oxycodone on the streets nearly doubled from 2010 to 2011, jumping to $8 to $15 per pill. In turn, that price hike is resulting in more individuals seeking treatment for prescription painkiller abuse once they find they can no longer afford their addiction.

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