So the deeper I dig into FL Gov. Rick Scott's decision to repeal the state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (check my diary history over the last week for previous installments), the more I discover just how crazy/devious/villainous the man is.
Readers Digest version of the situation: Florida's pain clinics (a.k.a. "pill mills") prescribe more addictive pain meds (i.e. OxyContin, Percoset and Vicodin, among others) than are prescribed in the rest of the country combined. In some of these clinics, doctors don't even see the patients, or only for a cursory visit ("I have a stiff neck, doc") before the patients walk next door to the strip mall pharmacy to have 'scripts filled in quantities to numb an army. Except that many of the patients aren't suffering from pain, but rather are dealers running the pills back up the "flamingo express" to the Eastern seaboard, with devastating effects to impoverished regions in Appalachian areas of Kentucky (my ancestral roots), Tennessee and West Virginia.
My latest discovery below the fold...
So, one of the reasons cited by Gov. Scott for slashing the state's PDMP in his budget proposal is his claim that he's gotta make budget cuts and that the PDMP hasn't raised suffiecient funding to remain self-sufficient.
Florida Pain Clinic Society Responds to Scott's PDMP 'Falsehood'
Not a single dollar "found" comes from State of Florida taxes:
Funding "found" through Federal Grants:
Rogers Implementation Grant - $400,000
Rogers Enhancement Grant - $400,000
Federal Grants TOTAL: $800,000
Funding "found" through Private Grants:
National Association of State Controlled Substance Authorities (NASCSA): $45,952
Private Grants TOTAL: $45,952
Funding "found" through Private Fundraising:
Private Fundraising TOTAL: $475,000
Total funds "found" for Florida PDMP operation: $1,320,952
Additional "found" is $100,000 in grants and pledges to be received later this year.
But I've reported that already.
What I discovered today in working backward through some other news stories since Gov. Scott's election is that he has already dismantled the state's Office of Drug Control.
From the Miami Herald on December 22:
Rick Scott moves to cut drug office
All four full-time employees working in the governor's Office of Drug Control were told Friday by governor-elect Rick Scott's team that their services will no longer be needed after he takes office next month.
A spokesman for Scott, who has pledged to cut waste in state government, said most likely the duties of the office, which now reports directly to the governor, will be turned over to the departments of Health and Law Enforcement.
``We're taking a look at that,'' said Scott spokesman Brian Burgess. ``I don't think we're going to have cocaine bales stacking up on the docks of Miami if we close this office.''
Ah, the smell of flippant sarcasm in the morning! Except that preventing cocaine bales from stacking up on the docks of Miami is really more of a law enforcement issue, as opposed to say, the primary mission of the Office of Drug Control.
Gov. Jeb Bush created the Office of Drug Control in 1999, and it's authorized by state statutes. Among other things, the office surveys Florida school children on their drug and alcohol habits, provides guidance on drug policy, coordinates work among state agencies to address substance abuse issues and advises the governor on seaport security as it relates to drug smuggling.
The office has also secured grant funding and donations to pay for the state's still-to-be-implemented prescription drug monitoring program, intended to curb pill mill activity.
emphasis mine
So let me recap to make sure I'm getting the full salty goodness of the pretzel logic that is the mind of Gov. Scott:
* Cut agency that was instrumental in creating the PDMP in the first place
* Falsely claim that the agency and the PDMP haven't raised enough private funds to avoid state funding requirements
* Have your arguments widely discredited by the state and national media
* Endure "please reconsider" pressure from everyone from Hal Rogers (R, KY-05) to Senators Schumer, Whitehouse, (Bill) Nelson, and Manchin, along with KY Gov. Steve Beshear and Obama's "drug czar"
* Dig in your heals and keep digging a deeper hole.
See also SemDems latest "My Stupid State" installment 2 FL Teabag Lawmakers Hire 60+ "assistants" at $100K+ each!! if you're interested in knowing where the state will be spending money instead. But make sure you've fully digested your breakfast first.