Sunrise To Crack Down On 'Pill Mills'
SUNRISE (CBS4) - Sunrise city leaders are considering several measures to crack down on so-called 'pill mills' which they claim allow abusers easy access to powerful painkillers.
Under the plan, pain clinics would be required to obtain a pain medication license from the city before December 31st. They would also be required to provide a monthly report on the number of drugs they've dispensed. The commission has also proposed limiting the hours the clinics would be allowed to operate. A final vote on the proposals is set for June 28th.
Earlier this month, during a stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Governor Rick Scott signed off on a new law aimed at controlling 'pill mills' statewide.
The law penalizes doctors who over prescribe painkillers, tightens rules for operating pharmacies and authorizes a prescription-drug monitoring database which should be operating by the end of August.
Florida is considered the epicenter of prescription drug abuse, with pain-management clinics supplying drug dealers and addicts with illicit prescription painkillers. The federal government says 85 percent of the powerful painkiller oxycodone is sold in Florida, much of it to people from out-of-state who then illegally resell the pills, primarily along the East Coast and Appalachia.
