FLORIDA DRUG PROBLEM!

Shaw 31 and Petes Trip have posted info about this quite some time ago. Both of them live in Florida. Also it has been all over the tv. Shaw was taking Methadone for a pain reliever and doing great with it controlling her pain. A few months back she went in for her usual appt with her PM dr and he told her Methadone was outlawed and he could no longer write her script for it and she was forced to change her pain meds. From what these two members have posted, it has really become a problem.

I too live in Florida and am a transplant from Ky where alot of the drugs coming out of here were being diverted to. Florida has recently implemented some new guidelines for those obtaining narcotics here. Some are working and some of them are not,those getting meds here are good and have found ways around the new rules,alot with the help of the clinics they are going to. I know folks who have had the clinic offer them a blank FL lease making it possible to obtain a FL ID which happens to be one the newly implemented rules for filling schedule meds, The clinics that fill in house at outrageous prices got around that anyway. The DMV and ID department has also made it more difficult to obtain a state ID or transfer your DL.

When I moved here It took me alot longer to get an DL then it did to find a PM but you have to watch the one you choose since alot of them are fly by night and move every few months to keep off the radar of the DEA,some of the clinics here have even gone so far as to open clinics in small out of the way towns in KY, I know of 4 of such places and they started out not needing a referral nor an MRI just have opiates in your 1st visit urine and request one for this or that and out the door you went!!! Really anger involking since so so many CPers have virtually no treatment at all.

These folks would have someone pay that cash up front $200 to $300 and give them half of whatever they got. Now here I have to say as in FL most of the scripts being written were for the Roxy 30's an 15's and they figured out that injecting them got them a whole lot higher and know we have a new generation of IV drug users,these are young folks,20's or so and when FL made it harder to obtain and those meds just like in the OXY thing back in early 2000 Ky was left with alot of addicts and saw a huge increase in robberies and thefts. Now the methadone and suboxone clinics are jammed full of them.

You still see some ads and run across a few of the clinics but not so much as a year ago. I know if I call them up and they are in some out of the way hidden like place and they dont accept any kind of payment other then cash all up front and I mean not even your visa then it is probably on the shady side, A sure give away is the big dudes packing big guns driving big black hummers and patrolling the parking lots.

I got lucky in finding a nice clinic thats been around for years and even though I jump thru hoops in contracts and lab tests I have adequate pain relief and care and my medicare is accepted gladly.

A note about those good old FL docs that opened those clinics in Ky with no rules? They got hit by the DEA and even though they are still operating they have to follow the rules as any other PM clinic or Doc there,meaning referrals from GPs,MRI's must recent and contracts in chart as well as random call ins for pill counts and if those guys are willing to pay that kind of money and jump thru those kinds of hoops I figure just maybe they are more CPers then addicts being seen there now.

I forgot to say one thing.  If you go to a clinic that actually offers medication as an advertisement on a billboard and says they only accept cash then that my friend is not a legitimate pain management office.  If you all cannot figure that out then I dont know what to say to you.

I too live in Good Old Fla. and still take methadone & oxicodone. I was really lucky and found a great pain doc after going through 4 others in a year and a half! There are so many bad ones here in Fla!!!
I believe that Shaw's doc took him/her off these meds because he/she was scared to prescribe them not because it's against the law here!!!
My new Doc is such a caring person, he wrote a letter and filled out reports for my pending social security case which stated that there is NO WAY that I can work anymore!! Also he offered to up my doses of both meds because he could tell that my pain was real and I have legit cronic pain!!
I declined the offer for higher doses now but told him I would let him know when the time comes> (I don't want to max out my meds now cause what will I do if something really bad happens to me???) I realized this after my last cervical fusion surgery when none of the opiates ( tried a bunch!) they gave me worked much at all because I take methadone and one can't just jump up the dose to quickly with methadone or it will be Good night Sweet Prince> if you catch my drift!!! So I suffered badly for about a week of legit #10's evan w/ everything they tried on me!!!
Sorry for changing the subject! So I guess the only way for us (C.P.'ers) can get any help is to find a good Dr. and that goes fo anywhere not just in Fla.
That's all Folks> See Y'all on da flip side!!!
Love all Y'all!
Pete

WOW, i'm so sorry all of you have to withstand this kind of ABOMINATION! reading your post made me angry and i am 3 states away in Virginia. people here thought we had it bad and around 2002-2005 we did (not FL bad). those were the years when the DEA thought any doctor that perscribed opioid pain meds. was a kingpen drug distributer. like NVRtheSAME98 mentioned my beloved orthopedic-surgeon that did my first laminectomy and managed my pain before and after was investigated by the DEA and bullied. they trashed his office and took all his charts and MRI/X-Ray films. the State Board of Medicine took attention and scheduled a trial for his license (40 years exp. starting as a trauma ortho. in the Vietnam War). the trial had about 250 of his patients show up to witness and these broken down pain patients stayed for the entire thing. he passed the Boards investigation with flying colors and kept his license, it did not matter because then the DEA froze his bank account and arrested and convicted a innocent man. he recently passed away in jail. this state has improved greatly in ligitiment pain mang. doctors and laws. SHAW31, i kind of cannot blame your MD for being scared of jail but i am going to come back and write you a post about your meds.(i did the same thing as you after typing the post about your meds. and it vanished). I pray the state of Fla. changes for the better not because i really care about the drug-addicts/criminals but because people that need a high standard of care are not getting it.

it is a horrible thing! We struggle so long and so hard just to be able to Live Life,take care of ourselves,fight w/c,SSD, take hateful glares and second rate treatment from some Pharmacists who think we are all addicts,and that is only to mention of a few of the difficulties we must surpass to obtain any kind of decent treatment!


Yet these virtual kids and the majority of them are under 25 can get tons of meds with enough money and very little hassle. Its so darn anger envolking you know?



Alot of us fought the fight with my Doc from Ky but he wasnt in the best of health and he had gotten up in years and they too tore up his offices,took patient charts and where does Hippa come in with these folks I ask as far as our confidentiality?



After losing his shirt and everything he had worked for all his 40 years of taking care of those who couldnt go elsewhere or nobody else would he got down bad sick and just couldnt get back at his age. The Attys bankrupted him along with the fines he got. He took medicare and medicaid pts so he didnt make lots to begin with you know? Didnt seem to be an issue for him and his wife who was also his Nurse thru the years.



So the system got another good Doc!



This Doc I see here seems to be really concerned for all of me. After finding out I had been on methadone for 9 years he immediately sent me for an EKG since methadone is believed to cause some heart problems with long term use. He also sent me for a MRI but made sure my medicare would cover it so close to the knee one I had done this year,most wouldnt have cared,pay it or dont come back till you get it is alot of the attitudes.



He offered me other meds we discussed the benefits of methadone versus oxy,morphine,opana,and he said at anytime I wanted to try a different path or at anytime the methadone was not holding my pain levels we could add something or take something away from the equation and pretty left it in my court and with his help and guidance we would do it my way! I was a little leery since alot of them are my way or the highway. He gave me papers with a list of Pharmacies that were going to not keep the methadone on hand due to recent rash in robberies and those that were on the shadier side of the street so I could avoid their costs.



I also might add that I did in fact have a difficult time with an out of state ID and a few even requested a copy of my MRI which I flat refused to give them as I dont think they are under the same laws to protect my privacy and am not sure they would even if they were! I dont think this is something they need to fill a med that a Doctor deemed I needed,what happened to phams and Drs working in conjunction with each other?



Anyway making a already long story longer I wont go into all that but luckily I use Walgreens at home so Walgreens here filled them since they could see that it is what I was getting at home for 9 years as well as the last script filled in KY before the one 34 days later here.



I certainly hope that Pete or I can help Shaw find a Doc to better treat his issues as there is nothing more distressing then getting a med that works and being jerked off because some Govt official says it is a dangerous drug and ppl are dying from it. If they looked at the ones who do I think they would find these folks were destined to do so it just happened to methadone they did it with it. They also need to take a close look at how many CPers die each year from suicide and complications of being under treated for chronic pain!!!! IMO folks.

Post Edited (nvrthesame98) : 3/16/2011 5:15:55 AM (GMT-6)

Your so right Chutz,it causes a ripple effect all the way across the US and I m not sure Canada isnt effected as well.

My Doc certainly has some negative things to say about them,and am pretty sure it hurts the good Docs as well.

Florida seems to be trying to slow it and end it and they are implementing new laws and regs everyday but these guys are making so much money they can afford to have several offices in different areas of the state as well as move every few weeks if they wish and many of them do.

Here is an example for you. I talked to a couple of guys who were down for the super bowl and they were also seeing a pain clinic in Tampa,now this is what they had to do,check into a prearranged motel,call a cell number letting the clinic know they were in and wait till they got a call back from the clinic telling them where to go to and when. Their call to see the Doc came at 2:45 a.m and they were directed to a office building down in a not so nice part of town and when they got there the line was out the door and they got back to the motel at 5:30 a.m with everything they asked for as long as they had the money (350) too see Doc and over &800 to fill those meds at an inhouse pharm. They said they could fill it anywhere they wanted to but were warned that if they had a out of state ID it was not going to happen plus they had to pay $450 to see Doc if they chose to fill elsewhere. Im wondering right off how anyone can afford that? So me being of enquiring minds ask and this is what I was told." They have a sponsor who pays it all and gets half of whatever they get" OMG I about fell over,how do you get that much meds? Well heres the thing those little oxy 30s and 15s have a street value of $15 and $30 and those xanax bars they got had a street value of $7. Heart attack waiting to happen I was stunned beyond belief.

I asked if they didnt mind me doing so just how much meds they got and since they had been celebrating the super bowl they were talking away and seemed rather proud of their loot. They got 240 of roxy 30s with a street value of $7200 and 90 of the roxy 15s with a street value of $1350 and add in those 60 xanax bars with a value of $420 and that was an easy read. It cost this sponsor $1150 plus the gas and food here and back and half of the take and he walked away with more then $3000 in drugs and profit and the folks being seen got away with alot more then that since the sponsor paid the visit and the trip costs.

Is it any wonder whats happening here is happening here? Its hard times for all and that kind of money looks good to alot of folks and then those "Docs" Are seeing about 100 ppl a day at $350-$450 a piece plus the overhead on the meds from their inhouse pharms and OMG! Where does it end?

Here we sit begging jumping thru all kinds of hoops,losing so much of our lives and like I said before I wouldnt sell you a pill for NO AMOUNT of MONEY as I know what it would feel like that day I didnt have one.

I dont know what the answer is how to stop this but I know one thing for sure the methadone and subox clinics are going to be overflowing when it does,and heres another little tid bit these folks hooked on these roxys dont just take them or snort them they shoot them into their veins,or at least this is the trend in KY and why this was started with way too many deaths under its belt. They are literally killing themselves, I can give you some names of the deceased, my kids whom are all in their 20s know them,went to school with them or by association. So so very sad.

Sorry for the run on but I thought this might interest some you to know what I learned and I am sure your as stunned at the sheer numbers as I am.

In the meantime I guess we keep fighting the good fight for another day of pain relief,another day of as close to normalcy as some of us are going to get and trying to cut thru the red tape and destruction these folks are leaving in their wake for us the real victims of this war.