Despite the good news that oxycodone sales have dropped in Florida, the battle against prescription drug abuse continues across the state. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, physician purchases of oxycodone dropped 97 percent in Florida from 2010 to 2011. Sarasota County ranks number one in the state for having the most medical professionals registered in Florida's prescription drug monitoring database."Community members, parent advocates, medical professionals, law enforcement, everyone has come together to make this possible," said Brooke Baker of the Sarasota County Health Department. "The numbers of oxycodone have decreased significantly, and part of that is due to state laws that went into affect July 1 that no longer allow practitioners to dispense out of offices anymore."With the decrease in oxycodone sales, and the progress that state has made in shutting down pill mills across Florida, more people are finding themselves in need of treatment for their addiction to prescription drugs. This is creating a huge burden for treatment centers all across Florida. ...read more

It seems like prescription drug addiction in Florida is always in the news. Now, a father and son from Tampa have admitted they were involved in a ring that operated pain management clinics and pharmacies that illegally dispensed million of dollars in prescription pain pills. The Drug Enforcement Administration has said this case was one of  the biggest law enforcement has ever seen in the Tampa area.   According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 2,710 people died in Florida in 2010 from prescription drugs. Oxycodone was the biggest killer, causing a 28 percent increase from 2009, leading to 1,516 deaths in 2010. There were 141 deaths from oxycodone in Hillsborough County alone. ...read more