PARISH PUTS HALT TO NEW PAIN CLINICS

Moratorium Is Effort To Combat Prescription Abuse

After hearing from several people who have lost loved ones to drug-related
deaths, the St. Bernard Parish Council on Tuesday issued a 180-day
moratorium on new pain management clinics.

Officials say the next step is to change zoning laws to make it more
difficult for these clinics, which usually prescribe or dispense
painkillers and methadone, to operate in the parish, said parish Councilman
Craig Taffaro, a licensed substance abuse counselor who spearheaded the
moratorium.

St. Bernard has four pain management clinics, Taffaro said. In addition,
one has erected signs but won't be able to open now that the moratorium is
in place.

St. Bernard Coroner Bryan Bertucci lauded the effort as a good start, and
Capt. Pete Tufaro with the Sheriff's Office said his office has been
working with State Police, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency the state's
Medical Review Board and the Pharmaceutical Board to form a state central
registry of addictive prescription medicines.

By having a centralized database, as 28 other states do, patients who want
to abuse drugs by "doctor shopping" -- going to multiple doctors to get the
same prescription -- will be thwarted, Tufaro said.

Before the council approved the moratorium, several St. Bernard residents
offered their personal stories as testimony to the need for such a ban.

"I am an ex-drug addict," said Nolan Lapeyrouse, 33, of Meraux, who said he
used to doctor shop to get Xanax and methadone.

"I went to a notorious clinic out in New Orleans East. I had nothing wrong
with me," Lapeyrouse said. "I got in a car accident, but I wasn't really
hurt. I told them my back hurts, and they basically asked me what I wanted.
It's ridiculous. It's outrageous."

Lapeyrouse said his sister, Rachael Berry, died of an overdose at age 25 in
2002.

Russell "Rusty" Vucinovich Jr. of Meraux said he and his wife, Eileen,
buried their 18-year-old son, Russell "Lil Rusty" Vucinovich III, in
February after he died at their family home from what is believed to be an
accidental prescription drug overdose.

Vucinovich said he wants the council to take whatever action is necessary
to prevent other people from dying from overusing and mixing prescription
drugs.

"This is a no-brainer for y'all," he said. "There is not one of you who
don't know somebody that has been affected" by drug abuse.

After a brief discussion, the council unanimously approved the moratorium.

"This is going to be an issue that is going to continue to get support,"
Taffaro said. "I am hoping we can use this as a springboard and move this
to the state level" to get the medical industry involved in helping to
better regulate such businesses.

"I'm not against people being medicated properly," he said, explaining that
he wants to target clinics that are reckless in dispensing medication.

"Fixing streets or passing ordinances, those things are important. But this
is a life or death thing and there are not many opportunities that you get
to save a life. And that's what this is."

Vague definition?

The operators of two local pain clinics didn't return phone calls for
comment Wednesday.

But George "Skip" Schmidt Jr., who owns Club Fitness and Wellness in
Chalmette, said that while he supports the moratorium because he doesn't
condone the misuse of prescription drugs, he is concerned about the
vagueness of the proposed law because it doesn't adequately define pain
clinics.

"We manage pain" without prescriptive drugs, said Schmidt, who helps
clients with the assistance of his wife, Dr. Denise Florane of Florane
Chiropractic. "We use neuromuscular skeletal medicine, chiropractic care,
alternative medicine, medical exercise and laser therapy."

Although a public hearing must be held and a final vote taken before the
180-day moratorium is official, the council unanimously passed a resolution
making the ban effective immediately. Councilman Joe DiFatta spearheaded
the resolution.

Taffaro said no applications for pain clinics are pending. However,
Community Development Director Michael Hunnicutt said a business was trying
to open in a building partially owned by DiFatta. However, Hunnicutt said
he told that operator that the facility lacked enough parking. No further
paperwork had been filed before Tuesday's meeting, Hunnicutt said.

DiFatta, who spoke about that business at a previous meeting, said he and
his business partners wouldn't give the business a lease because the
operator's explanation of the services it would offer sounded suspicious.
However, the business did pay one month's rent and apparently erected signs
advertising its operations, although DiFatta said it has no occupational
license and no parish permit.