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Last July, Florida lawmakers passed a bill that finally addressed the problem of the state’s lack of a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). The legislation doesn’t go into effect until December 2010 and in its current form is a sloppily put-together bill that leaves out information about funding for the program and penalties for those who fail to abide by the law.
Currently, 34 states have legislation that requires such a program. Florida is one of five states that recently passed a law requiring a PDMP, but before the program has even been implemented, it has been criticized for having major flaws that need to be fixed.
First and foremost, the bill does not establish any punishment for those clinics or so-called “pill mills” that fail to meet the requirements of the law. By being unclear on what will happen to those law-breaking establishments, the Florida government is already proving it isn’t serious about the program, and seems not to care about the well-being of its citizens or the citizens of other states who travel the Florida pipeline to acquire prescription drugs for illegal purposes.
The second problem is that the state is not allotting funds to pay for the program. Instead, it proposes to finance the program through federal grants and private donations. Attempts already have been made to secure private donations from several prescription drug companies, but they have been unsuccessful. This begs the question: How does the state of Florida expect to be able to properly run such a program when funding is limited or nonexistent?
Florida legislators need to realize it is unjust to implement a weak program just to keep citizens quiet and the pharmaceutical companies happy.
There is a better solution to the pill trafficking problem
The country needs federal legislation that would require a universal PDMP system to be used in every state. With a system in place that all states must follow, communication among state law enforcement agencies would improve and the U.S. could finally witness the demise of the pill mills that are destroying lives and communities across the nation.
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