House HHS Committee Examines Prescription Drug Abuse

Concerned about prescription drug abuse, the House Health and Human Services Committee mulled over controlled substances on Thursday

There is no question that prescription drug abuse is a significant problem in our state, said Rep. Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill, the chairman of the committee. "With lives at stake, we must examine every step in the supply chain and every strategy intended to stop prescription drug abuse.We need to know what really works. Todays meeting suggests that the current bureaucratic regulatory scheme is inadequate.Too much of todays efforts is too little and too late.

And we have to ask if a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) could really be effective, continued Schenck. If so, how?How does a tracking system that depends on criminals voluntarily reporting their unlawful activities stop the next drug-related death?

Based on information shared today, we should be skeptical about prior evaluations of PDMPs, added Schenck. New research has found higher mortality in states with PDMPs. And all states have experienced increases in death rates since 1999, whether or not the state has a PDMP. We must find a front end solution. We need to stop the problem at its source and stop legalized drug dealing in Florida.

Schenck pledged that his committee would continue to investigate the matter. Their work won the applause of House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami.

Today the House discussed the various ways Florida attempts to regulate controlled substances, including the state drug-monitoring database, which has not yet been built. The focus was rightly on cutting off this problem at the source, not simply monitoring the warning signs, said Lopez-Cantera.

Prescription drug abuse must be stopped at the source, Lopez-Cantera added, agreeing with Schenck. We must work to prevent bad doctors from dispensing indefensible amounts of dangerous medical drugs, not utilize another big government program to penalize citizens for the legal use of prescription drugs.

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