USA TODAY: Federal agents and police raided doctors’ offices across South Florida on Wednesday in a sweep aimed at what authorities say are operations that illegally deal pescription pain pills.
The raids and tough new state laws that can result in criminal charges for doctors who overprescribe narcotics are part of a nationwide crackdown on an explosion of pain management clinics that have sprung up in storefronts and office buildings to supply the USA’s growing appetite for prescription drugs.
Often the cash-only clinics require just a cursory exam — if any — before a doctor will prescribe large amounts of narcotic pain medication such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, which can be highly addictive. Some of the clinics have in-house pharmacies to fill the prescriptions, says Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)…. (more)
EDITOR: These phony pain clinis would not exist if doctors were properly trained on adequate pain medication and, those who are, were not in terror of running afoul of the DEA. Hundreds of thousands of people suffer greatly due to undermedication and, often, because of under medication at the inception of their injury, thus resulting in chronic pain. They need some place to go for relief. Tragically, their needs are being met by the unscrulous rather than legitimate treatment.
