Prescription Drugs and Lawmakers
Narconon of Georgia has seen a steady steep rise of prescription drug abuse over the last year. It almost seems there is no end to expansion of a market that is killing people.
Many people in Florida and Georgia have had their fill of the prescription drug abuse fiasco and now a representative from Florida is taking it to our nation’s legislatures. He is introducing a bill that would help control prescriptions through a national data base. The bill makes sense for everyone concerned except for the vested interest who are obviously profiting from the misfortune of others.
Let’s watch this one and urge our representatives to take notice of this bill before it dies. This is our chance to get behind something with some teeth in it.
For more details, read the article below.
“A Florida congressman has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives intended to curb prescription drug abuse and eliminate pain clinics that illegally dispense narcotic pain medications, even as legislators in his home state fight over a similar initiative, the Orlando Sentinel reported March 14.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Sarasota) introduced “The Pill Mill Crackdown Act of 2011.” Among other things, it triples the fines for pill mill operators from $1 million to $3 million, and possible federal prison sentences from 10 years to 20. It would also make drugs like Vicodin and Lortab more difficult to prescribe or obtain by reclassifying them as Schedule II drugs.
“Something needs to be done,” said Rep. John Mica (R-Winter Park). “Florida seems to be spiraling out of control. We’ve been cited for being one of the worst states for prescription drug abuse. It’s a very serious problem.”
Buchanan’s bill would also support state prescription drug monitoring databases, which have become a source of contention in his home state. Although over 30 states already have such databases in place, Florida does not.
Florida legislators voted to create a privately-funded state database in 2009. However, new governor Rick Scott is opposed to the database because he fears the state will eventually have to pick up the tab, and he believes that it would unnecessarily impinge on patient privacy, the Miami Herald reported March 14.