Today in the U.S., drug addicts are abusing prescriptions drugs more than ecstasy, heroin and cocaine combined. Their drug of choice is Oxycontin which is heroin created in a lab. Florida is distributing five times the national average of prescription drugs. The state is responsible and distributing eighty five percent of prescription narcotics. Pain clinics run by businessmen are hiring retired doctors who willingly prescribe pills to addicted patients for money.
These doctors are not concerned about the patient, they are signing prescriptions to get a paycheck for themselves. Due to the high supply and demand, doctors will prescribe thousands of pills to patients without reason. The doctors are legally pushing, they are drug dealers with medical degrees.
The high demand bring businessmen from across the country who are they are setting up pain clinics for financial gain in Florida. The pain clinics are very financial successful because they operate on a cash basis, and charge for an appointment, an MRI review and the prescription.
The drug addicts will “doctor shop” in order to get the most pills possible. This means they will go from doctor to doctor getting prescriptions for Oxycontin. Due to the fact there isn’t a prescription drug tracking system in Florida, there is no way to monitor how much a patient can get from multiple doctors. When a person is doctor shopping, they can get up to 1500 pills in the month. This quantity will provide them what they need for their addiction as well as revenue. They sell their excess supply on the street to earn enough money for the next prescription visit. Because of the lack of control on the distribution in Florida, people from across the country will travel to Florida to get large quantities of pills to use and sell.
The selling of Oxycontin on the street is a flagrant criminal activity. Depending on the quantity involved the person can be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony resulting in jail time. A person with 4 - 14 grams of Oxycontin in their possession can receive a sentence of three years of jail time, 14 - 28 grams can be 15 years, and 28 or more grams is a felony and can result in a sentence of 25 years in jail.
A far worse consequence of this drug business is the multiple overdoses that occur daily. In Florida alone, 11 people overdose from prescription drugs a day. Eighty five percent of drug related deaths in Florida are from prescription drugs.
In July a drug monitoring program was developed to attempt to cut down the distribution of prescription drugs. It will not take affect until 2011.
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