Gov. Rick Scott highlighted his measures to fix Florida's pill mills and prescription drug abuse epidemic Thursday before a U.S. House committee in Washington, D.C.
He was joined by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, where local officials have often complained of Florida's lax efforts to crack down on doctors and clinics that liberally prescribe powerful prescription painkillers. Kentucky law enforcement officials say residents there travel to Florida to pick up the pills before coming back to the state in a practice known as "drug tourism."
For his part, Scott promoted his efforts to fight "pill mills," the pain clinics that churn out prescription drugs to patients. He touted a strike force he announced last month that directs coordinated efforts of local law enforcement agencies, overseen by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to target pill mills.
When Scott announced the strike force, he maintained his opposition to the state's prescription drug management database (PDMP), citing privacy concerns. The database came online last week after a longstanding bid dispute was resolved, and now Scott embraces the PDMP.
"We know who the manufacturers are, we know who the distributors are, we know who the doctors are, so we ought to be able to stop them. This is a legal distribution system that's doing it the wrong way," Scott said.
A bill looking to strengthen the PDMP cleared its final committee hurdle in the Florida Senate Thursday. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said his bill increases penalties on pill mill operators and lowers the amount of time for reporting prescriptions to the database from 15 to seven days.
The Florida Senate has made it clear that the bad actors in the practice of pain management will be treated harshly once they are identified. Through the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and the regulation of pill mills, unscrupulous dispensers and prescribers of controlled substances will be put out of business," Fasano said.
Scott also drew praise from U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., who chairs the committee, for rejecting an offer of $1 million from Purdue Pharma to fund the PDMP for two years. Purdue Pharma is the pharmaceutical company that manufacturers OxyContin, the heroin-like painkiller responsible for many of the overdose deaths. Mack's son, stepson to Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, has struggled with an OxyContin addiction.
"I think that the Purdue Pharma -- your decision was a good one," Mack told Scott.
The database is being funded by a combination of private donors and federal grant money.
Scott also talked up legislation in the state House and Senate that will prevent doctors from owning pieces of pharmacies or from dispensing drugs on site after prescribing them, and imposes stricter licensing requirements for pain clinics.
Were going to make sure were tracking them from the manufacturer to the wholesaler to the dealer, not just at the pharmacy after the fact, Scott said. The doctor thats prescribing will not be able to own a pharmacy. I think stopping ownership will be a big step, he added.
Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns asked Scott and Beshear what could be done in Congress to help them fight prescription drug abuse.
"There ought to be a restriction on how these drugs can be used and what they can be prescribed for," said Scott, who is normally adverse to government regulations.
Mack introduced a bill in Congress last week, named the Stop Oxy Abuse Act of 2011, that would impose the restrictions Scott called for on the circumstances when powerful opiates can be prescribed.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
