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Broward County in Florida has become the painkiller capital of the United States, home to a growing industry of storefront pain clinics selling narcotics such as the potent painkiller oxycodone, according to law enforcement officials.
In the last six months of 2008, doctors in the county's pain clinics distributed more than 6.5 million pills of the potent painkiller oxycodone -- almost four pills for every Broward resident, according to federal data compiled by the Broward sheriff's office. In a report published in the Miami Herald, narcotics investigators say that the travelers come by the thousands, from Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Massachusetts, and other states.
Prospective pill buyers sometimes camp outside clinics overnight, waiting for the doors to open, said Hollywood police Capt. Allen Siegel, director of a South Broward narcotics task force. In Florida, as in most states, doctors who dispense pills from their offices need no special training or certification. They need only pay the state a $100 fee and agree to submit to the same annual inspections required of pharmacists.
Doctors dispensing drugs can create an issue for pharmacists, because many times the pain medication is not reported to pharmacists and not recorded in the patient's history. The Department of Health can monitor a doctor's practice, but it doesn't oversee clinics. That's the job of the Agency for Health Care Administration. But under state law, the AHCA monitors only clinics that accept insurance -- and many pain clinics are cash-only.
The DEA has devoted two new special units to South Florida pain clinics. But many detectives and health officials have said that what Florida needs is a prescription-drug database, to allow doctors and police to monitor doctor-shopping activity. Thirty-eight states have such a program; Florida is the largest state without one.
Although investigators told the Miami Herald that a prescription database would help them detect prescription fraud, they warn that it will not end the activity.
Source: Drug Topics
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