Florida's New Pill Mill Law may be Difficult to Swallow
Sometimes, the best-intended laws have unanticipated consequences. Consider Florida’s new legislation aimed at grinding down prescription drug abuse, which is responsible for the deaths of 7 Floridians every day on average, according to the St. Petersburg Times. Last year, then-governor Charlie Crist also approved legislation imposing stricter regulation on doctors and pain management clinics in Florida that prescribe and dispense prescription pain medication. 
The new “Pill Mill Law” signed by current Florida governor Rick Scott, which went into effect on July 1, 2011, “tightens reporting requirements to the database from 15 days to seven days, a change critics said the program needed to make it more effective.” In addition, the new prescription drug law “increases penalties for over-prescribing Oxycodone and other narcotics, tracks wholesale distribution of some controlled substances, and provides $3 million to support law enforcement efforts and state prosecutors.” Further, the legislation “prohibits most doctors who prescribe narcotics from dispensing them, requiring prescriptions to be filled at certain types of pharmacies.”
Rick Scott actually opposed the bill initially before having a change of heart. The St. Pete Times reported that “of all the oxycodone that is dispensed by physicians in the United States, 85 percent is dispensed by Florida doctors.”
Despite the Pill Mill Law’s lofty intentions, it is not without its problems, and implementing this and previous pill mill laws is proving difficult. For example, one of the law’s requirements was that prescriptions be written on special, counterfeit-proof pads. This proved unduly burdensome for doctors who were unable to obtain the requisite prescription pads in time to assist patients who genuinely needed pain medication.
In addition, Florida government has been calling for the creation of a drug monitoring program since 2009, but this has yet to occur. Finally, the new law and its predecessors have the effect of punishing those whom the laws are designed to protect through severe punishment of pharmaceutical drug offenses, which includes a minimum prison sentence of 3 years and $50,000 fines.
Frequently, persons injured in auto accidents, slip and fall, and other incidents have the misfortune of becoming addicted to painkillers as a result of their injuries, which are often caused by the negligence of others. The accident and injury attorneys at PERENICH The Law Firm can help clients receive the medical care they need from qualified doctors.