Andrew D. Stine, P.A. - Florida Criminal Defence Attorney

Jeff George, often discussed in previous posts as a kingpin of pill mills, has finally been ordered to pay financial restitution to the family of 24-year-old Joey Bartolucci who died from overdosing on narcotics in 2009, supplied by the pill mills operated by the George brothers. Pill mills are pain clinics that often prescribed powerful narcotics like Oxycodone without discretion. These operations are under extreme scrutiny and heavy investigation because of the rising number of Oxycodone related overdose deaths. It is simply just too easy for addicts and drug dealers to get their hands on powerful prescription drugs.

South Florida is known as the pain-pill capital of the country for a reason. With hundreds of pain clinics flourishing throughout St. Lucie County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County, addicts and doctor-shoppers will drive from states as far as Ohio to reap the benefits of pill mills and dispensing doctors. Police who track operations say that even though many pain clinics operate legally, people can often be seen driving from clinic to clinic procuring hundreds of pills at a time. Even though Florida legislation has attempted to regulate the doctor shopping epidemic, doctors continue to supply drug addicts and dealers with pills.

Did you know that Medicaid paid for more than 49 million doses of oxycodone pills over two years? The Palm Beach Post conducted an analysis of 1.7 million Florida prescription records but astoundingly, only 1.36 million adults are enrolled in Medicaid. There are no doubts that doctors in pill mills are continuing to peddle pills to addicts and drug dealers even as the state of Florida wars with the flow of prescription drug trafficking. The in-depth analysis breaks down the amount of prescriptions paid for by Medicaid in relation to the famous pill mill busts in 2010 and 2011. 

A consistent headline in the news is how pain clinics are a growing problem. South Florida is considered to be the hotspot for pain clinics and by proxy, prescription drug trafficking. Doctors at pain clinics have an underhanded reputation for handing out prescriptions like they’re candy for highly addictive drugs like Oxycodone. As law enforcement continues to crack down on drug traffickers disguised as pain clinics, drug traffickers continue to find loopholes around the law.

Last week, the pill mill brothers finally made an appearance in court facing federal weapons charges and murder charges all in relation to the prescription drug mills they are accused of running in South Florida. Clearly lawmakers are attempting to react to the surge of prescription drug trafficking proliferating throughout Broward County attracting doctor shoppers and drug dealers all the way from states like Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

South Florida is known as the pain pill capital of the United States. Prescription drug schemes can be found anywhere but the most common place for it is in pain clinics spearheaded by doctors trying to make an illegal profit. Recently, a prescription drug bust occurred at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Riviera Beach.