A DIFFERENT APPROACH

Florida is considering a pharmaceutical data-base to find and
prosecute pill mill operators. They flourish here because many other
states find and prosecute pill mills.

So if the United States stamped out all pill mills, would opiate
addicts finally be forced to 'get clean'? Hardly. It would just drive
suppliers to Mexico, giving the cartels an additional product to sell
to Americans.

A better solution would be to treat opiate addiction like the sickness
it is. Switzerland has been doing that since 1994, and in 2008 voted
overwhelmingly to make the policy permanent. It pays for itself in
better public health and reduced crime.

Officially it is called 'heroin assisted treatment,' available to
addicts willing to sign up with the state. The Swiss have few pill
mills because there is little demand for illegal pills. We should try
it.

John Chase, Palm Harbor