Activity 6

I really enjoyed the OxyContin video about Florida become a “pill popper’s paradise”. I wasn’t informed about any of this, so it was all very interesting. The “OxyContin Express” video definitely shed some light on the severity of the problem, stating that Florida is responsible for dispensing pills at five times the national average, which in turn accounts for eleven deaths per day in Florida. It was mentioned in the video and I definitely agree that these statistics alone seem like enough to qualify this as an epidemic. As depicted, there were approximately ten pages of ads for pain clinics in Broward County, some accompanied with coupons. It’s scary to think that a drug addict can get a coupon out of the local paper to get half-off OxyContin.  So as a first step, I would try to at least reduce the amount of advertising that goes into these clinics, because eliminating their advertisement doesn’t seem feasible. Additionally, since Florida did not previously have a prescription drug monitoring plan, it was impossible to track who is getting what and how much they are getting. A monitoring plan in place would reduce some of the trafficking of OxyContin and such to other states, such as Kentucky. While Florida has now introduced a system such as this one, it is very lenient and arguably inefficient. These pain clinics alone don’t always have a computer system in place that keeps track of people’s history. Probably because it would hurt their business. Ultimately, I think the most effective way to stop the pill pipeline would be to make these “pain clinics” illegal. And that might mean revoking the doctor’s medical license if they’re caught participating in what is basically just handing out pills for cash and thereby violating the Oath they took. The deputy in the video said himself that it is easier to chase someone illegally selling the pills they’ve gotten from the clinics, because the clinics are technically legal. Personally, I know selling pills is illegal, but the pain clinics are having a much bigger impact on people who buy pills. And they are also the leading cause of the sale of pills in states such as Kentucky. If it weren’t for their easy access, people wouldn’t be so tempted to buy and sale pills to make the profit that they do. At the end of the day, while punishing those selling drugs on the street is a start, it will never be able to fully terminate the problems that pain clinics are creating. 

This is relevant to class material as we discuss substances such as OxyContin. Additionally, we have previously talked about addiction and ease of access, both of which are factors here that keep pain clinics in business. My friend is a pharmacist, and she constantly turns away people that show signs of addiction or have ran out of pills before their next scheduled filling, which suggests addiction or selling. It’s sad that pain clinics feed the addiction of so many people, and they’re currently allowed to.