§ 2-18-2. Legislative findings of fact.

(a)

The Whereas clauses [of Ordinance No. 12-14] are incorporated herein and represent legislative findings of the board. The board further finds and declares that it is in the best interests of the citizens, residents, and businesses of Manatee County to enact a permanent ordinance requiring a permitting and regulatory process for pain management clinics operating, or desiring to operate, in Manatee County.

(b)

In 2009, through the enactment of Section 893.055, Florida Statutes, the legislature directed the department of health to establish a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) to track prescriptions for controlled substances dispensed by various health practitioners. The purpose of the PDMP is to prevent the practice of "doctor shopping" wherein a person illegally obtains multiple prescriptions of a controlled substance from different doctors for the purpose of illegally reselling the controlled substance.

(c)

Thirty-four (34) states have a PDMP. Florida is the largest state which did not have an operational drug monitoring program to help prevent the illegal distribution of controlled substances.

(d)

During the 2009 Legislative Session, in Chapter 2009-198, Laws of Florida, the Florida Legislature recognized that pain management clinics should be registered with the Florida Department of Health, and that new regulations governing same should be promulgated by the board of medicine and board of osteopathic medicine.

(e)

Through Sections 458.309(4) or 459.005(3), Florida Statutes (2009), the Florida Legislature authorized the board of medicine and board of osteopathic medicine to adopt new rules setting forth standards of practice for health care practitioners who practice in privately owned pain management clinics.

(f)

During the 2011 Legislative Session, a new law enacted as Chapter 2011-141 incorporated many of the draft pain management clinic rules proposed by the state board of medicine.

(g)

Pill mills generate a high volume of clients and traffic and, therefore, require more stringent regulation of location and use than other medical facilities.

(h)

Some pharmacies have been operating in conjunction with "pill mills"; including those that operate on a "cash only" basis and have sales of controlled substances that exceed the industry norm.

(i)

"Pill mills" that illegally prescribe and dispense controlled substances for the treatment of pain, whether acute pain or chronic pain, are associated with a wide variety of adverse secondary effects including, but not limited to, personal and property crimes, public safety risks, illicit drug use and drug trafficking, undesirable and criminal behavior associated with alcohol consumption, and negative impacts on surrounding properties.

(j)

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the death rate for prescription drugs increased eighty-four and two-tenths (84.2) per cent, from seven point three (7.3) to thirteen point four (13.4) per one hundred thousand (100,000) population from 2003 to 2009. The greatest increase in death rate was observed for the prescription drug Oxycodone (two hundred sixty-four and six-tenths (264.6) per cent), followed by Alprazolam (two hundred thirty-three and eight-tenths (233.8) per cent), Methadone (seventy-nine and two-tenths (79.2) per cent), Hydrocodone (thirty-four and nine-tenths (34.9) per cent), and Morphine (twenty-six and two-tenths (26.2) per cent).

(k)

Manatee County Sheriff officials say crimes related to prescription pills have reached epidemic proportions, including an increase in burglaries involving medicine cabinets. There is also an increase in jail population because of more drug arrests.

(Ord. No. 12-14, § 1, 3-27-12)