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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Pill Mills Czar to Speak at NSU
Florida Attorney General’s Prescription Pill Abuse Chief to talk about the State’s New Offensive on Pill Mills
FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE Fla. —- Former state Senator Dave Aronberg, who was recently appointed by state Attorney General Pam Bondi to head her office’s efforts to combat so called “Pill Mills”, will speak at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
Aronberg, who serves as special counsel for the attorney general’s pill mill initiative, will be speaking from noon to 1 p.m. at NSU’s Health Professions Division’s Melnick Auditorium. The talk is free and opened to the public. The title of his presentation is “Florida’s New Offense against Pill Mills.”
The Attorney General’s Office said it will likely push for legislation that will strengthen state rules regulating pain clinics. “It is unacceptable that Florida has become the nation’s pill mill capital” Bondi said. Statistics show that seven Floridians die per day as a result of prescription drug overdose.
South Florida has been nationally recognized as ground zero for prescription drug abuse and diversion, where unscrupulous doctors and other health care professionals run “Pill Mills”.
Pill Mills are doctor’s offices, clinics, and associated pharmacies, where large quantities of controlled substances, such as painkillers, are routinely over-prescribed or dispensed to patients, far exceeding any therapeutic purpose. These establishments often operate without insurance and on a cash-only basis. They run robust businesses, selling high concentration of pills.
Their patients, who are often “doctor shopping”, travel to Florida from states as far away as Tennessee, Kentucky and Maine by the busloads to visit these Pill Mills. These patients fill their prescriptions from one Pill Mill to the next until they end up with a myriad of pills that they use themselves or sell for top dollar on the black market.
“Pill Mills are turning their patients into addicts by over-prescribing highly addictive painkillers such as OxyContin, Oxycodone, Roxicodone, Xanax, Soma, Valium, you name it.” said Raymond G. Ferrero III, J.D., the executive director of health affairs for NSU’s Health Professions Division, chair of NSU’s Council for Addiction Studies, and partner with the Addiction Recovery Legal Services law firm
According to the Florida Office of Drug Control, the nation’s top 50 prescribers of the painkiller known as oxycodone operate in Florida. Not surprisingly, the data shows that the top 24 prescribers of oxycodone reside and work in Broward County.
Pill Mills sit in stark contrast to physicians and pharmacies practicing legitimate pain management —- a system where physicians operate legally and legitimately to treat patients with chronic physical pain.
Media Contact:
Ken Ma, NSU Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5408 (office), 954-830-4177 (cell), ken.ma@nova.edu