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Columbus
Dispatch...
DEA urged to step up
‘pill mill’ fight in Ohio
Sen. Brown wants crackdown in Ohio
By Alan Johnson
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown wants the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
to ramp up enforcement efforts against “pill mills” in Ohio.
Brown said prescription-drug abuse is hitting Ohio especially hard.
“The cost of allowing these illegal operations to continue is simply
too high; it perpetuates addiction, fosters drug dealing, and most
tragically, leads to overdose deaths,” Brown said in a statement.
The Democrat added his voice to those of Republican Attorney General
Mike DeWine and two state lawmakers who announced prescription-drug
fighting plans in the past two weeks.
Deaths from prescription-drug overdoses tripled in Ohio between 1999
and 2006, as the number nationwide doubled.
Seven of the 10 counties with the highest drug-overdose death rates are
in southern Ohio.
Brown recently called for establishment of a Medicaid “lock-in” program
so prescription-drug users cannot get excess prescriptions from
multiple doctors and pharmacies.
He also backed reauthorizing federal legislation for prescription drug
monitoring and a separate law to prevent teenagers from obtaining
discarded prescription drugs by creating so-called “take-back” programs
for unused drugs.
DeWine recently named former Adams County Prosecutor Aaron Haslam to
head a special-prosecutions unit. DeWine promised a commitment of about
$2.5million, in part to provide funds for local law-enforcement
training as well as to assist local investigators and prosecutors.
Previously, state Reps. Dave Burke, a pharmacist from Marysville, and
Terry Johnson, a doctor and former Scioto County coroner, introduced
House Bill 93. The measure would curtail doctors’ ability to
“personally furnish” controlled substances, strengthen pain-clinic
licensure, provide consumer education and develop a take-back program.
A new version of that measure may be rolled out this week at a
committee hearing.
Read it in The Columbus Dispatch
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