A PROBLEM WITH LEGAL DRUGS

Last week, meeting in emergency session, Florida health officials took the
harsh action of banning a South Florida doctor from writing any
prescriptions for addictive medications and painkillers.

Dr. Armando Angulo of Hialeah was accused of writing prescriptions for
large amounts of narcotics to low-income patients on Medicaid. Five members
of a single family, the state said, were given prescriptions for about
$200,000 worth of the painkiller OxyContin.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel had reported last year that Medicaid had
paid pharmacies more than $2.2 million for filling Angulo-written
prescriptions in a three-year period. The Florida Department of Health said
investigators found that addictive drugs were giving "in excessive
quantities to many of his patients, including multiple members of the same
families and to persons of varying ages who shared the same address."

On that same day last week, the Sun-Sentinel reported that Teresa Ashcraft
of DeBary attended a drug symposium in Tallahassee. She brought a picture
of her 19year-old son, Bobby, with the handwritten message "OxyContin
killed his future."

Also at the symposium was Maryann Carey, whose son, Steven, died three
years ago from a prescription-drug addiction. "My son never doctor
shopped," Carey told The Palm Beach Post, referring to the practice of
going from doctor to doctor while amassing prescriptions for narcotic
drugs. "He bought most of his drugs on the street from people who did
doctor shop."

Gov. Jeb Bush, who attended the symposium with his wife, Columba, and
Florida drug czar Jim McDonough, knows firsthand of the problems addiction
to prescription drugs can cause. The Bushes' 26-year-old daughter, Noelle,
has an arrest record for forging prescriptions and completed a 16-month
rehabilitation program last year.

"This is a horrible situation that we need to deal with, and we will," said
Bush.

The governor is pushing legislation that would create a
prescription-tracking database. Available only to doctors and pharmacists,
it would allow checks of those suspected of doctor shopping. The database
has been debated for years in the Florida Legislature, but always failed
because of privacy concerns and operating costs.

This year, passage appears likely. Of the 9,116 drug-overdose deaths in
Florida during 2002, more than a third involved prescription drugs. Health
officials say that about five people die each day in the state from
overdoses of prescription drugs -- more than the number of deaths from
illegal drugs.

Law-enforcement officials could see the database if they obtained a warrant
for an ongoing investigation. Unauthorized use would be a third-degree
felony, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
the Legislature would have to renew the database after two years or all
information would be destroyed.

"This system will save lives," said Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey,
sponsor of the Senate version (SB 578, SB 580). "Law enforcement and state
officials would be able to track more closely any patterns of abuse."

The legislation has received unanimous support from the Senate's Health
Care Committee and Criminal Justice Committee.

Late last year, McDonough, the drug czar, announced the formation of a
multiagency task force to attack the rising number of deaths from
prescription drugs. "It's phenomenal," he said. "I can't imagine any other
area, accident, disease or even the murder rate where we're seeing these
kinds of numbers."

And on Monday, a congressional panel is scheduled to meet in Orlando to
begin hearings on the growing abuse on the national level of OxyContin and
other prescription drugs.

Prescription-drug abuse, as McDonough noted, is a big problem in financial
terms alone -- but even worse, lives are being lost.

The drug database merits the support of the Polk County legislative delegation.