Health News
Though pill mills continue to be a big problem in Florida, where lax laws have fueled Kentucky's prescription pill trade, there is evidence that the tides are slowly turning in the Sunshine State. "Registered pain clinics in Florida have dropped from 930 last year to 736 now as the state begin to crack down," reports Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal in the second installment of a special report on prescription drug abuse. (C-J photo by Kylene Lloyd: Broward County Detective Brann Redl)
- Cheaper Heroin Showing Up In Eastern Kentucky As Crackdown On Pain Pills Makes That Trade Less Attractive
About 60 grams of heroin, worth about $8,000. (AP photo)It was only few months ago that Northern Kentucky law enforcement officers and substance abuse clinics began expressing grave concern that heroin was fast becoming the go-to drug in their region....
- Despite New Laws, Florida Still Fuels 'pill Pipeline' To Kentucky
If you thought Florida's recent moves to stop the "pill pipeline" to Kentucky have worked, think again. "Cash-only clinics continue to operate throughout the Sunshine State, with doctors indiscriminately doling out prescriptions for such drugs as...
- Prescription Pill Problem In Kentucky, Elsewhere Under Microscope On Npr Program
The growing prescription-drug abuse problem in Kentucky and other states was under the microscope Thursday during National Public Radio's "On Point," hosted by Tom Ashbrook. The Courier-Journal's Laura Ungar, who wrote an extensive series on pain-medicine...
- Three Florida Women Put Pressure On Sunshine State's "pill Mills," Legislators, Governor
As Kentucky officials ask Florida legislators to crack down on pill mills, three Florida women have started a grassroots effort to spread awareness about the problem. Nurse Renee Doyle, respiratory therapist Joy Saghy and nurse Janet Colbert, all of whom...
- Drug Czar Coming To Kentucky To Look At Prescription Pill Abuse
The White House drug czar will visit Kentucky next week to investigate prescription pill abuse, a problem he called "heartbreaking." In a four-day tour, Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama's chief advisor on drug issues, will meet with law-enforcement...
Health News
New Florida laws helping stem flow of pills, but loopholes remain and trade is shifting to other states
Though pill mills continue to be a big problem in Florida, where lax laws have fueled Kentucky's prescription pill trade, there is evidence that the tides are slowly turning in the Sunshine State. "Registered pain clinics in Florida have dropped from 930 last year to 736 now as the state begin to crack down," reports Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal in the second installment of a special report on prescription drug abuse. (C-J photo by Kylene Lloyd: Broward County Detective Brann Redl)A Florida law that took effect in July increases penalties for physicians who over-prescribe, tightens rules for prescriptions and pain-treatment regimens, and decreases the amount of time dispensers have to report the sale of prescription drugs into an electronic monitoring system that started Sept. 1.
The worry now is pill mill operators may just move to surrounding states. Georgia has seen a surge in clinics. "Each community outside of Atlanta is seeing an increased problem," said John Horn, first assistant U.S. attorney in Georgia, which has no electronic prescription-drug monitoring program. Some Kentucky addicts are heading to Ohio, Tennessee or West Virginia to get their pills, though now an interstate task force is helping to curb those efforts. (Read more)
There is also fear that the new law in Florida contains loopholes. "For example, board-certified pain specialists, such as anesthesiologists and surgeons, are exempt from pain-clinic registration and inspections," Ungar reports. The law also "doesn't require drug testing for patients."
But there are efforts on the national level by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to stem the problem. Operation Pill Nation, launched in 2010, resulted in the DEA and other agencies making 340 undercover buys from more than 60 doctors working in more than 40 clinics in the first nine months of the operation. "The first arrests came in late February, when 22 people were picked up in one day," Ungar reports. A Florida strike force that started in March resulted in 937 arrests, including 17 doctors, and the confiscation of more than 250,000 pills.
There is also evidence that state drug monitoring systems work because they are a "major deterrent to doctor-shopping and a main reason Kentuckians go to Florida for drugs," Ungar reports.(Read more)
- Cheaper Heroin Showing Up In Eastern Kentucky As Crackdown On Pain Pills Makes That Trade Less Attractive
About 60 grams of heroin, worth about $8,000. (AP photo)It was only few months ago that Northern Kentucky law enforcement officers and substance abuse clinics began expressing grave concern that heroin was fast becoming the go-to drug in their region....
- Despite New Laws, Florida Still Fuels 'pill Pipeline' To Kentucky
If you thought Florida's recent moves to stop the "pill pipeline" to Kentucky have worked, think again. "Cash-only clinics continue to operate throughout the Sunshine State, with doctors indiscriminately doling out prescriptions for such drugs as...
- Prescription Pill Problem In Kentucky, Elsewhere Under Microscope On Npr Program
The growing prescription-drug abuse problem in Kentucky and other states was under the microscope Thursday during National Public Radio's "On Point," hosted by Tom Ashbrook. The Courier-Journal's Laura Ungar, who wrote an extensive series on pain-medicine...
- Three Florida Women Put Pressure On Sunshine State's "pill Mills," Legislators, Governor
As Kentucky officials ask Florida legislators to crack down on pill mills, three Florida women have started a grassroots effort to spread awareness about the problem. Nurse Renee Doyle, respiratory therapist Joy Saghy and nurse Janet Colbert, all of whom...
- Drug Czar Coming To Kentucky To Look At Prescription Pill Abuse
The White House drug czar will visit Kentucky next week to investigate prescription pill abuse, a problem he called "heartbreaking." In a four-day tour, Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama's chief advisor on drug issues, will meet with law-enforcement...