PILLAGE: FLORIDA 'WHACK JOB'

Appalachia is being ravaged by a flood from shady Florida "pill mills"
that shell out painkillers to addicts and drug dealers, no questions
asked. As our "Pillage" series pointed out, West Virginia leads
America in overdose deaths. Police invest vast time and energy
prosecuting "pillbillies" and their suppliers.

Florida's legislature passed a tough monitoring law to catch illicit
clinics -- but Florida's controversial Tea Party governor, Republican
Rick Scott, says he will scuttle the project. Scott claims it's an
"invasion of privacy" to keep tabs on stooges buying carloads of pills.

Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen exploded: "Has Florida finally
elected a certifiable whack job as governor?" He continued:

"Florida is the largest state without a [painkiller] database, and the
undisputed epicenter of the sleazy illegal pill trade. In the first
six months of 2010, doctors in Florida prescribed nine times more
oxycodone than was sold in the entire [rest of the] United States
during that same period."

Federal indictments say a convicted heroin dealer, Vincent Colangelo,
owns seven pill mills in the Miami region. "Over a two-year period,
Colangelo allegedly distributed more than 660,000 oxycodone pills,
enriching him and his partners to the tune of $150,000 a day," Hiaasen
wrote. Why does Gov. Scott feel "concern for shielding the privacy of
dope dealers" like Colangelo, the columnist asked.

Former West Virginia reporter Fred Grimm, also a Herald columnist,
pointed out that several other long-time criminals likewise own
Florida pill mills, using doctors as "front men." It's pure
racketeering.

Gov. Scott formerly headed the Columbia / HCA hospital chain, which
paid a $1.7 billion fine for Medicare fraud. Scott took the Fifth
Amendment 75 times -- then retired with a $360 million golden
parachute. Tea Party help installed him as governor. Conscientious
Florida residents are revolted by him.

"Why would any sane or sober public official go out of his way -- very
publicly -- to protect pill-pushers and crooked doctors?" Hiaasen
wrote. "...It would be crazy for Scott to veto the [pill-monitoring]
measure, but he seems determined to redefine crazy at least once a
week."

Several West Virginia leaders -- Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Rep. Nick
Rahall, D-W.Va., House of Delegates Health Chairman Don Perdue,
D-Wayne, etc. -- are pressuring Gov. Scott to reverse course and crack
down on pill mills. House Current Resolution 75, adopted by delegates
and now pending in the Senate, urges Gov. Scott to reconsider.

It's too bad that West Virginia can't file legal action to force
Florida's "whack job" to combat the pill menace. In effect, he's
abetting a dope conspiracy.