Maitland City Talk

I have always believed that government has no business regulating businesses. So when I first heard that the regulation of pharmacies in Maitland was an issue, I opposed it.

The issue with Maitland had to do with the activities of one pharmacy, where a pattern of problems had arisen over time. After discussing the situation with Police Chief Doug Ball, I found that since January, our police department had responded to more than 104 calls for service at this pharmacy as a result of this activity. Our police department had also requested assistance from both state and federal agencies in dealing with this situation and has had limited success.

I also realized that Florida is rapidly becoming known as a state where individuals can easily obtain large quantities of powerful pain medications such as Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Methadone, Dilaudid and other opiate medications. These were the types of medications that were being distributed through the pharmacy, where individuals traveled to Florida from as far away as Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky to obtain these powerful pain medications for their illegal use and distribution.

But the problem is far greater than what we have experienced in Maitland. The illicit use of prescription medications is threatening the lives of our citizens. Addicts are committing burglaries, robberies and other crimes to feed their habits. In our county alone, the Medical Examiner's Office has stated that 100 citizens died in 2009 from abusing these pain medications.

In recognition of the problem, the state of Florida passed legislation in 2009 to initiate a statewide prescription drug-monitoring program that would allow the tracking of prescriptions and individuals, but the database has not been created due to a lack of funding.

The city of Maitland is taking an active role in combating this issue in order to protect our citizens. We have written a letter to Gov.-elect Rick Scott and copied all Florida representatives identifying the problem in Maitland. City Council is also considering an ordinance patterned after the city of Delray Beach that would help curb the unlimited filling by pharmacies of prescriptions for illicit drugs.

But this would only be addressing the symptom. The source of the problem lies with "pill mills", doctors who prescribe painkillers to individuals who may or may not need them for legitimate medical conditions. Orange County held a workshop on Tuesday to discuss a moratorium on these types of businesses. And since Maitland currently has no pill mills, now is the most appropriate time to make sure that they are not attracted here in the future.

If we don't address the problem, now and from the source, we will see more articles like the one in the Orlando Sentinel on Oct. 31, which highlighted a 26-year-old father who died of a brain hemorrhage, a 40-year-old who died on a bus, an 18-year-old found dead in his home by his girlfriend, and a 29-year-old mother of two found slumped in her desk chair — all of whom died from overdoses on prescription drugs.

Let's take a leadership role in taking immediate action to make sure our families are not affected further by the distribution and use of illicit drugs.