Pharmacies and Pill Mills

Attached a link http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/24/2560690/painkiller-peddlers-pharmacies.html to an important article you might have missed titled "Painkiller peddlers: Pharmacies targeted in pill-mill crackdown" published in the Miami herald on December 24th, 2011. The article reports that according to a federal indictment an ordinary mom-and-pop pharmacy, conveniently located on the first floor of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, the 28-story heart of Miami-Dade County government, steps from a heavily used Metromover stop, was actually operating as a pill mill illegally trafficking in painkillers, part of a wave of rogue pharmacies that have become the new front line in the continuing war on prescription drug abuse in Florida. In the emergency order suspending the owner's pharmacy permit based on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation, the Florida Department of Health said he posed a serious danger to the public health and showed reckless disregard for pharmacy laws and rules by dispensing excessive or inappropriate dosages of oxycodone and oxymorphone. The four Robert’s Drug stores purchased a total of 1,692,700 tablets of oxycodone between Jan. 1 and June 1 this year, according to the DEA. A state expert said in state documents that an 80-mg. daily dose of oxycodone “is potentially lethal” for some people but that Aryan’s customers routinely received far more. But there aslo good news to report: After a three-year investigation, federal authorities dismantled four of the nation’s largest pain clinics in August along with two pharmacies and one pharmaceutical supplier. Thirty-two people from across South Florida were indicted. Over the years, the enterprise doled out 20 million pills and profited $40 million from illegal sales of controlled substances. In July, federal authorities arrested a family of five charged as part of a drug and money laundering enterprise based at a Plantation pharmacy. From April, 2009 to May, 2010, the pharmacy ordered 1,038,560 tablets of oxycodone, more than 28 times the national average for dispensing pharmacies, according to federal documents. The profits: nearly $2 million.Last month, CVS — with more than 700 stores in the state — notified a small number of Florida physicians that it will no longer fill their prescriptions written for Schedule II narcotics, including oxycodone, a measure to “prevent drug abuse and keep controlled substances out of the wrong hands,’’ according to a statement. Looking forward to your comments. Happy New Year Yours Bernd