Pain Clinics Causing Overdoses And Deaths

Pain Clinics, The New Fronts? Doctors, The New Dealers? Pain Killers, The New Crack? Overdose, The New Murder?

Welcome to the world where drugs are no longer exclusive to crack houses, the only pain killer on the street isn’t heroin and dope fiends aren’t the only ones who overdose. Welcome to the world where drugs aren’t only found in the backstreets of cities run through the gangs or the mafia. Welcome to the world where drugs are easily found when you open your medicine cabinet and now even your doctor may be the new dealer on the block.

Pain clinics have been a major issue for South Florida for a long time now. I know for myself being from North Carolina and a heroin addict only a few years ago, that South Florida seemed to be an oasis for pain killer addicts. A place we would try to get to and talk about like a Garden of Eden. It was known in my world while I was using, as a place where you could go and replenish your supply of pain killers and Xanax, for a decently cheap price, usually some kind of flat fee, absolutely nothing seriously physically or medically wrong needed. Needless to say I am sober now and have been for quite a bit of time, living in South Florida. Funny how I get sober and now I am in that “Garden of Eden” I used to talk about. It all gives way though to a new perspective; what is really going on and what are we doing about it?

What South Florida is beginning to do is take some action with the reputation they have held as pain killer capital of the United States. 13 doctors were charged for their involvement in pain clinics, and one was charged with murder. The entire case has taken on new levels with a total of 32 people being indicted on racketeering charges. The charges range all the way from racketeering to fraud, many of the same charges the FBI or DEA would put atop the heads of drug lords in a gang or mafia type of situation. The murder charge fell on one doctor who prescribed a man pain killers who then overdosed shortly after filling his prescription.

Our drug culture has developed and it is having a major effect on today’s generations. I know for myself pills were the “it” thing. Oxycodone, Xanax, morphine, methadone, all kinds of pain killers which are now able to be found in most homes of Americans and not just that but are readily written prescriptions for. Pain killers are highly dangerous and highly addictive. It’s probably why South Florida is also known for all the treatment centers in the area too, plenty of pain killers means plenty of addicts. While we hold the capital for pain clinics we also hold the capital for recovery.

The streets and the mafia are not the only ones in the drug ring now. Doctors and pharmacists are being charged as if they were involved in organized crime. Im not one to say on whether or not they should be charged as if a drug ring but they have all the identifiers of being organized crime. They have the death toll from overdoses, they have the millions of dollars being made, they have the levels of authority built in through their clinics, and most importantly they have their “fronts”, their fronts in the forms of pain clinics or doctor’s offices. Doctors are the new kingpins and pharmacists are our new dealers.

I wouldnt be surprised when the new American Gangster movie comes out and its a bunch of guys in white coats, also known as doctors, filling out scripts to average americans who then take it home and overdose. Just remember if you are addicted to pain killers there is a way out, you dont have to continue to take them. If you or someone you know is addicted and needs help:

Please Call: 877-711-HOPE(4763) or go to www.palmpartners.com