Bradenton City Council to Consider Moratorium on Pain Clinics

BRADENTON -- City Attorney Bill Lisch will be drafting an ordinance for a moratorium on new "pain clinics" within city limits. Ward 2 councilwoman, Marianne Barneby presented the City Council with information regarding such facilities and asked for their support on such a ban during yesterday's work session.
 
"Pain Clinics" have been particularly prolific in Florida, due to decades of lax regulations and non-existent prescription monitoring. Last year, the state enacted legislation to implement a system to track prescriptions, allowing regulators to monitor suspicious volume and frequency.

At the time, Florida was the largest of only 12 states without such a system and a major haven for inter-state prescription drug supplies. However, the program was passed unfunded and relies on a board of private citizens to raise money for its implementation.

At the center of the controversy, is oxycodone (marketed as Oxycontin), a powerful opiate, often referred to as ”poor man’s heroin“. Though such drugs have a legitimate use as a pain medication, the pills are terribly addictive, often turning non-drug using patients into habitual addicts after a serious injury. Once their doctor ceases to prescribe the medication for such use, they are forced to look to the street or less scrupulous physicians for their supply.

The drugs are relatively cheap ($3-4 per pill), but often sell for five times as much in states with tighter regulatory control. Kentucky and Tennessee have both publicly condemned Florida’s lack of oversight and blame it for contributing their states’ epidemics.

The moratorium draft will be presented and discussed at the next city council meeting, May 12th at 8 a.m.