LEGAL DRUGS KILL FAR MORE THAN ILLEGAL, FLORIDA SAYS

MIAMI -- From "Scarface" to "Miami Vice," Florida's drug problem has
been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for
Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.

An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida
Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by
prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all
illicit drugs combined.

Law enforcement officials said that the shift toward
prescription-drug abuse, which began here about eight years ago,
showed no sign of letting up and that the state must do more to control it.

"You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers,
and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments," said Jeff
Beasley, a drug intelligence inspector for the Florida Department of
Law Enforcement, which co-sponsored the study. "There is a multitude
of ways to get these drugs, and that's what makes things complicated."

The report's findings track with similar studies by the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, which has found that roughly seven
million Americans are abusing prescription drugs. If accurate, that
would be an increase of 80 percent in six years and more than the
total abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy and inhalants.

The Florida report analyzed 168,900 deaths statewide. Cocaine, heroin
and all methamphetamines caused 989 deaths, it found, while legal
opioids -- strong painkillers in brand-name drugs like Vicodin and
OxyContin -- caused 2,328.

Drugs with benzodiazepine, mainly depressants like Valium and Xanax,
led to 743 deaths. Alcohol was the most commonly occurring drug,
appearing in the bodies of 4,179 of the dead and judged the cause of
death of 466 -- fewer than cocaine (843) but more than
methamphetamine (25) and marijuana (0).

The study also found that while the number of people who died with
heroin in their bodies increased 14 percent in 2007, to 110, deaths
related to the opioid oxycodone increased 36 percent, to 1,253.

Florida scrutinizes drug-related deaths more closely than do other
states, and so there is little basis for comparison with them.

It has also witnessed several highly publicized cases in recent years
that have highlighted the problem. Only last year, an accidental
prescription drug overdose killed Anna Nicole Smith in Broward County.

Still, the state has lagged in enforcement. Thirty-eight other states
have approved prescription drug monitoring programs that track sales.
Florida lawmakers have repeatedly considered similar legislation, but
privacy concerns have kept it from passing.

As a result, federal, state and local law enforcement officials say,
Florida has become a source of prescription drugs that are illegally
sold across the country.

"The monitoring plan is our priority effort, but that is not enough,"
William H. Janes, the Florida director of drug control, said in a
statement accompanying the study. He said Florida was also looking at
ways to curb illegal Internet sales and to encourage doctors and
pharmacists to identify potential abusers.

Some local police departments have taken a more novel approach.

In Broward County on May 31, deputies completed a "drug takeback" in
which $5 Wal-Mart, CVS or Walgreens gift cards were distributed to
150 people who cleaned out their medicine cabinets and turned in
unused drugs in an effort to keep them out of young people's hands.

"The abuse has reached epidemic proportions," said Lisa McElhaney, a
sergeant in the pharmaceutical drug diversion unit of the Broward
County Sheriff's Office. "It's just explosive."