Drug Crimes / Drug Trafficking
12/15/2011
Ryan P. Rooth, Shareholder
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Teenagers Increase Pain Medication Use
A new survey shows marijuana and prescription pain pill use continues to increase among teenagers. In the Tampa Bay Area the increase in prescription pills should come as no surprise. With the pill mills all over the Tampa Bay Area and the addicts coming from all over the country it was just a matter of time before the pill lifestyle infiltrated the youths of our community.
The decrease in cigarette and alcohol use is great news and is a positive aspect of the data collected from the National Institute on Drug Abuse survey, but how are “we” going to address the prescription pill explosion in our Tampa Bay Area. As a criminal defense attorney Tampa is one of the epicenters to the pill mill problem and the City of Tampa has taken bold moves to thwart that. Will the other cities and counties follow the example the City of Tampa has set and begin regulating the pill mill operations and pain centers.
The idea that every pain clinic is illegitimate is absurd but there are a number of clinics overmedicating patients whether knowingly or not. As we previously blogged, CVS is cutting off certain doctors and not allowing their patients to fill pain medications at CVS even with the new drug database implementation. The drug database should help control the disbursement of oxcodone and other pain pills to a single individual during a short time period. How well the database works is unknown at this time but companies such as CVS are taking an aggressive stance and turning doctors and patients away.
Our community, the doctors, pharmacists and families need to actively address the dangers of prescription pain medication. As a criminal defense attorney Tampa has seen its fair share of prescription pill overdoses. Many of those overdoses are accidental overdoses by the children and young adults in our community and is further proof that no family is immune to the devastating effects of drug addiction.
As a criminal defense attorney Tampa youths are unknowingly walking around with enough oxycodone to land them in prison on drug trafficking criminal charges. These young children have no idea that only a small handful of oxycodone are needed to reach the weight requirement under Florida law for a drug trafficking arrest. Any charge for Oxycodone or other pain medication without a valid prescription is a felony in Florida. Drug trafficking is a first degree felony and requires a mandatory prison sentence.
When our friends and families begin to see the signs of prescription pill addiction we need to address it quickly. If your child comes home from school and talks like a pharmacists you have your first clue of a problem. Before you need the services of a criminal defense attorney I urge you to talk with your children and to discard any pain medication that is unneeded.
