FL's pill mill crackdown leaves legit chronic pain prescriptions hard to fill.

[madfloridian]

Florida’s pill mill crackdown makes getting meds difficult for ‘legitimate pain' patients


Charles Knighton, in his Palm Coast home, says the medicines that allow him to manage his pain are becoming more difficult to get.
News-Journal/LOLA GOMEZ

The Orange City pharmacist has a limited supply of powerful pain medication to dispense and is under immense pressure from federal and state authorities to ensure those drugs don’t fall into the wrong hands.

Florida needed to do something about prescription painkiller abuse, but the crackdown on pill mills has produced unintended consequences, said Accardi, owner of Accardi Clinical Pharmacy.

“There has been collateral damage and those are patients who have legitimate pain,” he said. “In this climate, there are going to be patients who are going to be turned away. Some are going to be legitimate, and that is terribly unfortunate.”

.....Since Florida implemented new regulations to stamp out abuse, pharmacists have refused to fill some of Knighton’s pain prescriptions. As a result, he says he can’t get all of the medication he needs to manage his pain.

“I’ve been made to feel like a drug addict — like I am on trial,” said Knighton, 54, who has a rare spinal condition called syringomyelia. “The war on drugs has become the war on the disabled.”

We experienced this problem before my husband's death. Doctors were terrified to prescribe pain medication. As my brother once said..when a person is dying so what if they become a little addicted.

Once hospice comes in, that problem with lack of pain medication ends....thank goodness.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Luckily heroin is cheaper than ever.

Gotta love the Drug Warriors, no amount of Insane Policy blowback will make them change course.

[RKP5637]

2. The situation is ridiculous and the burden on the doctor/patient relationship is absurd. n/t

[madfloridian]

5. Yes, a burden on that relationship.

Doctors are scared, patients are in pain.

[Skittles]

3. Some are going to be legitimate, and that is terribly unfortunate.”

actually, no, that is INHUMANE

there has to be a better way

[Downwinder]

4. This is America, we don't torture.

Do I need it?

[madfloridian]

6. Even preventing major pharmacies and health facilities from prescribing due to shortages.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20150328/NEWS/150329436/1040?p=all&tc=pgall

The Drug Enforcement Administration fined Walgreens $80 million in 2013 for not doing enough to stop painkillers from reaching the black market. It stopped two CVS stores in Sanford from dispensing the drugs. The drug wholesaler Cardinal Health temporarily lost its ability to distribute controlled substances from its Lakeland facility. The wholesaler settled claims for $34 million that it fulfilled suspicious orders of hydrocodone.

A report this month from the Government Accountability Office found the DEA ineffectively managed its quota system for the production of controlled substances, contributing to a shortage of pain medication.

....But Randy Margrave, a pharmacist at Holly Hill Pharmacy, says wholesalers are under pressure from the DEA to closely watch dispensing patterns and limit the number of doses provided to pharmacies.

One time his pharmacy was flagged by a wholesaler because it ordered more drugs in advance of a price increase, he said. Because of the limited supply, he's not accepting any new chronic pain patients, despite the pharmacy getting 15 to 20 calls a day from people inquiring about the availability of painkillers.

“They've got the wholesalers shaking in their boots,” Margrave said."

[daredtowork]

7. This entire problem is stupid

People can find other ways to kill themselves if they want to kill themselves.

Responsible adults have the option to take medication as directed. If they don't take it as directed, their doctor changes the prescription. D'oh!

If you just take painkillers out of the equation, you leave people in pain. This creates disability. This leaves people unable to work. This can put the taxpayer on the hook for SSI/SSDI if the disabled person is in too much pain to work. Pain can also make it difficult to address other problems like obesity. Inflammation from pain can exacerbate existing disabilities, just making things worse.

Overall, I have to wonder if a lot of increased medical costs and decline in productivity in recent years have been caused by turning prescription painkillers into another "war on drugs".

[Warren DeMontague]

9. The DEA knows that the clock is running out on pot prohibition.

That's really the vast majority of what they do, arrest people for and try to keep people from smoking pot.

Without that, they are a vastly overinflated budget in search of a justification.

[RKP5637]

10. Exactly!!! It's a huge revenue stream for them and the prison complex. Has

absolutely nothing to do with what is best for "we the people." It's just about $$$$$'s for the DEA.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Florida is the same state that gave a paraplegic man a 25 year prison sentence for managing his own

pain.

If the choice is between someone, somewhere catching an unauthorized buzz or throwing pain patients and doctors in prison, I'll go with the "risk" of not over-policing the dr/patient relationship.

[madfloridian]

11. "Over-policing" is a good phrase to describe it.