Despite 2011 legislation regulating the pain management clinics which have made Florida a center for illicit trafficking in prescription narcotics, local governments continue to face the serious impacts of pain clinics and unscrupulous pharmacies. While legitimate pain management clinics exist to provide needed medical treatment for individuals suffering from chronic pain, “pill mill” clinics and pharmacies have exploited lax state regulations to prescribe and dispense large amounts of controlled substances and serve the illicit drug trade. Over the past several years, these illicit businesses proliferated within the retail storefronts of South Florida communities, resulting in dramatic increases in burglaries of clinics, robberies and other crimes, and further hampering redevelopment efforts in recession-stricken commercial districts.
House Bill 7095, which took effect July 1, 2011, strengthens penalties for doctors who over-prescribe painkillers, tightens reporting and inspection requirements for prescribing physicians, and shortens the timeline for dispensers to track the sale of prescription drugs through the long-awaited statewide electronic prescription drug monitoring system that began operation on October 17, 2011.
Loopholes in the state regulations, and the continued market for illicit prescription pills, mean that many clinics and pharmacies will continue to create problems for local governments. Even with the new Prescription Drug Monitoring database in effect, doctors and pharmacists are not required to check patients in the system before writing or filling prescriptions. Furthermore, under the 2011 legislation, certain pain physicians can still continue to prescribe and dispense controlled substances, and small pharmacies are increasingly teaming with rogue clinics to skirt the new restrictions.
Beginning in 2008, the cities of Dania Beach, Cooper City, Weston, Hallandale Beach and Miramar, with the assistance of WSHPC&B attorneys, prepared and adopted land development and operational regulations to target the community impacts of “pill mill” clinics and pharmacies. These communities also partnered with law enforcement personnel to create effective strategies to address pill mill clinics and pharmacies at the local level. On May 24, 2011, following the issuance of a final report and recommendations by the Broward County Pain Management Clinic task force, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners approved regulations for pain management clinics within the unincorporated areas of the county, intended to serve as a “model ordinance” for county municipalities. On October 4, 2011, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners approved a motion to direct the preparation of an ordinance to update the current county regulations, to create a definition and restrictions for “cash-only facilities” which prescribe or dispense controlled substances and that do not accept medical insurance.
Author(s): Johanna M. Lundgren
