SCOTT DOCTOR-SHOPS FOR CREDIT: HE DIDN'T WANT THE PILL MILL BILL; NOW HE
HAS TO MAKE IT WORK

As a candidate, Rick Scott proclaimed that he was not a politician.
That claim evaporated early, when he announced a media event to
declare the accomplishments of his first week in office. Five months
into the job, he already has become a serial politician. Only a serial
politician would conduct a three-city bill-signing tour to take credit
for legislation that he first opposed and had little to do with
getting through the Legislature.

On Friday, Gov. Scott went to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando to
tout his signing of HB 7095, a law that strengthens the state's
prescription database monitoring program, increases penalties for
doctors who overprescribe addictive narcotics and bans doctors from
dispensing the drugs. It also requires tracking of wholesale
distribution of certain controlled substances and provides $3 million
to support state and local law-enforcement efforts to close down "pill
mills" that supply prescription painkillers in Florida and throughout
the eastern United States.

"I am proud to sign this bill, which cracks down on the criminal abuse
of prescription drugs," Gov. Scott said. "This legislation will save
lives in our state, and it marks the beginning of the end of Florida's
infamous role as the nation's pill mill capital." Gov. Scott is right
that the law likely will save lives, particularly since it reduces the
time doctors and pharmacists have to input information into the
database from 15 days to seven days. Almost from the moment he took
office, though, Gov. Scott opposed the database.

First, he cited privacy and cost concerns. He remained steadfast in
that opposition, even though police, prosecutors and doctors said the
database was necessary to prevent doctor-shopping. That happens when
addicts and traffickers obtain a large amount of pills from multiple
physicians, and it's a second-degree felony in Florida. The governor's
opposition ceased only when he got the chance to testify before
Congress during a hearing on the "Growing Danger of Prescription Drug
Diversion."

"One tool that focuses on end users is a database focused on the
patient level," Gov. Scott told the Energy and Commerce Committee.
"This month in Florida, my Department of Health began implementation
of such a database." He didn't mention his opposition to the database
or that he had shut down the Office of Drug Control Policy.

It also took the governor three months to name a health department
secretary. No thanks to the governor, the health department expects
the database to be operational by October. Despite Gov. Scott's
boasting, it was Attorney General Pam Bondi who pushed for the
database and intervened to keep the legislation alive when the House
and Senate couldn't reach a compromise on a bill that never should
have been controversial. Gov. Scott signed the law because it was
politically expedient. The politics just happen to be good for Florida.