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House Votes To Kill Pain Clinic Regulations

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) - A Florida House committee voted Thursday to eliminate all state regulations on pain clinics, repeal the drug database law, and stop doctors from dispensing drugs.

The vote by the Health and Human Services Committee sets up a showdown with a Senate committee which moved forward with plans for pain-management doctors.

The Senate plan would codify rules approved by the Florida Board of Medicine, while the House version would reject it.

According to the News Service of Florida, the former director of the Office of Drug Control, Bruce Grant, said the rules the House wants to eliminate include registration and inspection of pain clinics, but ban felons from owning the facilities.

"The problem is the pill mills are not legitimate medical practices," Grant told the News Service of Florida. "They are criminal enterprises."

The drug database, which was approved a few years ago by the state legislature, is in the crosshairs of Republicans in the House and Governor Rick Scott.

Wednesday, Scott declined financial help to pay for the operation of the database and stood by his decision to get rid of it. Scott cited privacy concerns as his problem with the database.

However, 34 other states have the databases and 9 others have approved it. Florida is the largest state in the United States without a drug database. It's also the number one consumer of pain medicine of any state.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service Of Florida contributed to this report.)

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