Drug ordinance vote Jan. 10

Maitland City Council will vote Monday, Jan. 10 on an ordinance that limits the amount of painkillers that can be sold at the city’s pharmacies.

On Dec. 13, Council passed the first reading of the ordinance, which limits controlled substances to 20 percent of drugs sold per month. It also requires a customer to provide two forms of identification and the pharmacist to confirm directly with the physician.

If a Maitland pharmacy or clinic repeatedly violates the ordinance, the city will be able to shut the business down.

City officials hope that the ordinance will curb fraudulent sales and abuse of controlled substances such as oxycodone. Individuals are coming to Orange County — from other parts of Florida and other states — to fill large volumes of prescriptions to sell on the streets, according to officials.

Florida magnet for drug dealers

On Dec. 7, Orange County passed a one-year moratorium on new pain management clinics or “pill mills”.

Carol Burkett, director of the Orange County Drug Free Coalition, said Florida dispensed more controlled substances in a six-month period than the rest of the nation combined. There were 82 deaths in Orange County in 2009 linked to prescription drug abuse.

“We’re going to see that death toll on track this year, if it doesn’t surpass it,” she said.

The Florida Legislature passed a drug-monitoring program, which will establish a statewide database of drug transactions. But bid protests and a lack of funding have held up implementation until mid-2011. Currently 34 states have a similar program.

“Once that comes into play, it will be a tool to curtail abuse,” she said.

There are 60 pain clinics in Orange County. The moratoriums prevent new ones from coming into the county’s unincorporated areas, not Orange County’s cities. It also regulates the existing clinics’ operating hours to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and prohibits cash-only payments. In July, the County Commission will consider permanent legislation.

Source of ordinance

The Maitland Police Department was called out to the Shoppes at Maitland more than 100 times between Jan. 12 and Oct. 25 for complaints involving customers of the Maitland Prescription Shoppe, or Lamar’s pharmacy, as it’s affectionately known. There were eight arrests, including for forged prescriptions and obtaining prescriptions by fraud. In the same period, Walgreens had eight calls for service and Publix had 15.

Police Chief Doug Ball said on one particular night, 30-40 people, four to five people per car, were waiting in the Shoppes of Maitland parking lot. They were from different states and told police that they were waiting for the pharmacy to open so they could fill prescriptions for narcotics.

Ball sent a letter to Lamar’s, as well as the other pharmacies in the area, to discuss the growing problem, but didn’t hear back from Lamar’s.

But Barbara Folsom, who co-owns the pharmacy with her husband, Lamar, said they were not contacted by the city. She said the business has not done anything illegal.

During the last six months, “our 22-year reputation has gone down the tube,” an emotional Folsom said during public input for the ordinance on Dec. 13.

She said that the pharmacy always identifies the prescription and checks identification, and if the person is not from Central Florida, the prescription is not issued. “I admit to you there were people in the parking lot who did not need to be there.”

Folsom, along with representatives of the Central Florida Pharmacy Association, showed support for Maitland’s proposed ordinance, which is modeled on Delray Beach’s ordinance that limits narcotics sales by percentages. They all agreed 20 percent of sales was a conservative figure.

“We need to do something proactive,” City Attorney Cliff Shepard said, “and we can’t wait for a Legislature that is taking its sweet time.”