Oxycontin Express was a very
interesting documentary about Florida becoming a pill popper’s paradise and how
Florida is the main source of an illicit prescription pipeline. I was actually
quite shocked after watching this documentary because I had no idea that
Florida was so lenient on prescription drugs and that there were so many pain
clinics, especially in Broward County.I
think that Florida being as liberal on prescribing pain pills as it is
presented in this documentary is absolutely unacceptable and it is a huge problem.
I was also really shocked to find out that people come from all over the United
States to get these prescriptions because they cannot get this type of
prescription in their home state. I thought it was ridiculous that the
prescription drug abuse capital of the US-Kentucky- got most of their
prescriptions filled in Florida because they could not get as many pills in
Kentucky. Additionally, I could not believe that these pain clinics were
essentially legal drug dealers that prescribed huge amounts of strong pain
pills to people that seemed to not even need it. I do not know how these
doctors are okay with prescribing these types of drugs to people they know have
to be addicts. After watching this video, I read more on the governor’s stance
on the issue. I cannot believe that Governor Rick Scott let this type of thing
go on in his state just because he thought that some type of prescription
monitoring program was an infringement on citizens’ rights and would violate
their privacy.
It
would be difficult to enact a policy that would completely stop the pill
pipeline that stretches from Ft. Lauderdale to Appalachia. However, the policy
would have to start with Florida. Florida needs to become a little more
conservative on their prescriptions and enact a policy that stops doctor
shopping and the amount of pain clinics that can be in one area. Additionally,
I think there needs to be a policy in place that holds the doctors of these
clinics accountable for what they are prescribing. I think there needs to be a
policy in place that limits the prescribing of medicine to those people that
are from out of the state. Finally, I think there needs to be a policy in place
that establishes the extent of pain patients need to be in in order to get
these medications prescribed.
This
documentary relates to class material because it shows one way these users and
addicts are getting these types of drugs that we learn about in class. I think
this documentary is a great example of how addictive and dangerous these drugs
can be.