Palmetto Enacts 1-year Ban on Pill Mills

PALMETTO -- Palmetto city commissioners approved an emergency ordinance banning new pill mills in city limits for a year – the third municipality in Manatee County to do so.

Commissioners deem the moratorium an emergency because both the City of Bradenton and Manatee County have approved similar bills recently. To head off the proliferation of pill mills within Palmetto, the city’s attorney Mark Barnebey advised city commissioners to adopt a similar ban.

”I was awestruck that happens in our community,“ said City Commissioner Alan Zirkelbach, who was at the Manatee County hearing on a similar ban recently. ”If we don’t enact it, then all the people in Manatee County who are doing it are going to come here.

City commissioners unanimously ok’ed the one-year moratorium in a meeting Monday. A supermajority vote was needed to push the emergency ordinance (PDF, 704 KB) through. City Commissioner Mary Lancaster was absent.

The ban basically stops any permitting for new pain management clinics, dubbed ”pill mills.“ These organizations are suspected of selling prescriptions for pain killers for cash. Major Florida newspapers have described how some of these growing Florida clinicsare trafficking prescription pain medications such as oxycodone to other states.

”There was a major problem in the state of Florida, especially in Broward County,“ City Attorney Mark Barnebey told commissioners before the vote. ”Manatee ranked top five (in the state) in having these problems.“

The rate of growth of these pill mills – and subsequent local bans on them – have prompted Palmetto city commissioners to pass one of their own.

Palmetto’s ban is for one year or until a statewide law regulating these mills kicks in on Oct. 1. If city commissioners deem the law not strict enough, they could establish additional permanent regulations after the year as well, Barnebey said.

Those violating the ban could be fined $500 or jailed for up to 60 days, according to city records. ”Legitimate“ medical practices and businesses are exempted from this ban.

No one from the public spoke for or against the ordinance.