Florida’s Struggle Against Addiction Continues

Around the turn of the new millennium, addicts began to find out a new way to get their fix: painkillers. As opiates, these drugs are essentially similar to heroin, which has long been part of the nation’s drug problem. However, unlike heroin, don’t have to be bought in back alleys from a shade drug dealer. Rather, they’re available at pharmacies to anyone who has a prescription for them. Recognizing their addictive potential, most states keep a close eye on who is buying what pills and how often they’re getting prescriptions filled. Yet, it didn’t take long for addicts and drug dealers to realize the one place that lacked a statewide prescription monitoring database: Florida.

With no oversight to regulate the painkiller industry, Florida witnessed hundreds of “pill mills” spring up in only a few years. These pill mills, which supply large quantities of painkillers under suspicious circumstances, have earned Florida its status as “the epicenter of America’s painkiller epidemic.” Beginning in the early 2000s, Florida’s drug statistics became more shocking with every passing year: 1,234 deaths from prescription drug overdoses in 2003, jumping up to 2,002 in 2007, and finally peaking at 2,710 in 2010. These numbers mean that, as recently as 2010, over seven people per day died from overdoses in Florida.

By 2010, Florida’s problem had become so severe that politicians were forced to respond, which they did by implementing a prescription monitoring database and passing bills to combat painkiller abuse. There have indeed been positive effects: in 2010, Florida had over 900 pain clinics and 98% of the country’s top painkiller dispensing doctors. Now, in 2014, the number of pain clinics is down to 367 and none of the top painkiller dispensing doctors are in Florida.

Florida has made great progress in overcoming painkiller addiction, but addiction as a whole is harder to beat. The ease at which painkillers could be obtained has created thousands of new addicts, and they’re not cured of their addiction simply because the pill mills have shut down. Instead, they’re finding a fix somewhere else. Just as twenty years ago heroin addicts began switching to painkillers, painkiller addicts are now switching to heroin. It’s becoming clearer every day that law enforcement and legislation can only do so much, but what addicts truly need is treatment. The good news is there’s no shortage of treatment centers in Florida; the former “painkiller capital” continues to be the country’s “recovery capital.” Without ever crossing state lines, each addict in Florida can get the help they so desperately need.