Posts Tagged ‘prescription drug’

Nothing can be more deadly than a slow death caused by the frequent consumption of drugs. Addiction to drugs kills a victim slowly and steadily, by the time the victim realizes anything, he/she is already under the trap and there is no way out. Drug menace is not new to Florida. It has been fighting for years against this poisonous threat. The government and the anti-drug agencies can keep a check on the trafficking and smuggling of drugs, but they are fining it tough to deal with a nuisance called, Doctor Shopping. It is a term which is used to describe the method applied by the drug addicts to obtain drugs by faking an illness. They follow the practice of attending various doctors and physician citing an illness, so that the physician can issue a prescription.

The reason is quite obvious; they cannot stop themselves away from drugs. Upon frequent consumption they become both physically and emotionally dependent on them. As a result they begin to crave for them, and look for various means to obtain the same. Going for the Doctor shopping is the easiest and the safest way they can have. The medicines that are commonly found in every medical store and which is also a substitute for drugs are OxyCotin and Oxycodone. The purpose for which they are used also makes them one of the widely available medicine, both of them are painkillers. Therefore patients do not have to produce any serious symptoms of illness.

Almost all the drug stores in Florida openly sell these kinds of medicines for their selfish purpose. The huge demand for these drugs lures the pain mills to flourish there business, but in this greed they forget its horrendous consequences. Almost every year in Florida around 2000 people loose their lives due to overdose of the prescribed drug. If we compare the number death caused by the prescribed medicines to the death caused by banned drugs like marijuana and cocaine, then we will come to know that the magnitude of former is almost thrice of the latter.

To bring into control the situation, recently a bill was passed to introduce a law, which will prevent the pain clinics from over prescribing drugs. Along with, a database will be maintained that will keep track the information related to the prescribing of drugs. With the introduction of this law, it is expected that the authorities of Florida will be able to control the drug menace.

In the recent times, there have been quite a few and serious attempts to put an end to the burgeoning plain clinic industry of Florida. With this attempt, there have also been significant efforts made in curbing the abuse of prescription drugs in the state. All these attempts have large done through statewide monitoring of the drug database. Now, the state seems to be pretty much serious about getting a firm hold on the drug database and are on a full swing in making the passing of this bill in the Florida House, a reality.  This has come as a great measure under the initiative of the representatives like Marcelo Llorente, Kelly Skidmore and Kurt Kelly. They are hoped to create a statewide drug database that will keep a track on the doctor prescriptions that are filled in for medications related to addiction. These addictive medications include narcotic painkillers like oxycodone.

The bill passed the Florida House 103-10 after a long debate which went on for some, one and half hours. A similar such proposal was also passed a few days later and it is now on its way to the governor. Llorente declared that the practice of doctor shopping in Florida needs to be brought to an end and for that pain mills that have so flourishingly doing business in the state must be put out of business. According to some recent studies and reports, over 2000 people die of prescription drug overdose in Florida every year. The information contained in the drug database of Florida will allow the registered medical practitioners, pharmacists and many a times, even the law enforcement officials of the state to identify the people who are doctor shopping. Doctor shopping is on a rise in Florida and is considered a threatening drug offence.

The drug overdose death in the state has been tripled by the illicit drugs like heroin and cocaine. Already thirty eight states of U.S have implemented the drug tracking databases but the privacy concerns associated with the Florida run prescription drug database are delaying efforts for the creation of a similar such system within the state. This makes Florida the largest state in the nation that is without a proper prescription drug database system. According to some people, the lack of a proper monitoring system and lax regulations has encouraged the mushrooming of pain mills across the state. This has drawn people from different parts of the country too besides within the state itself, to get easy access to these addiction medications.