Campaign aims to shut pain-pill clinics in Florida county where oxycodone sales are tops in the nation
Emergency room visits for abuse of prescription pain pills more than doubled between 2004 and 2008, and the biggest increase (152%) involved oxycodone products, according to a study released in June by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We urgently need to take action,” said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden. “Emergency department visits involving non-medical use of these prescription drugs are now as common as emergency department visits for use of illicit drugs.”
Broward County in South Florida is tops for oxycodone sales in the nation; since 2007, the number of pain clinics shot from four to 154, writes Tonya Alanez in the Sun Sentinel. Oxycontin is one of the brand-name oxycodone drugs.
Now three local women “joined by bonds personal and professional” have formed an organization called STOPP NOW — Stop the Organized Pill Pushers that aims to shut down clinics that prescribe the powerfully addictive drug. “I want these places closed,” said Joy Saghy, one of the three behind the campaign. “They don’t care about getting people addicted and how many families it’s ruining. They could care less.”
To read the full story, go to “Three Broward women join forces to fight oxycodone trade.”
-- Mary Forgione
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