I was very happy to read a story today on the WFTV Channel 9 website indicating that CVS Pharmacy has decided to stop filling painkiller prescriptions for certain doctors across Florida.
According to WFTV, CVS has issued a letter to select doctors across Florida indicating that the pharmacy will no longer fill Schedule II Controlled Substances for their patients. Schedule II Controlled Substances are generally the most powerful prescription drugs on the market — including powerful painkillers like Oxycodone, Methadone, Opium, Nembutal, and others.
CVS has not shared any information regarding how it decided which doctors to cut off from prescriptions, and which doctors to continue filling prescriptions for. However, one member of the Orange County Prescription Drug Taskforce, Dr. George Ralls, said the decision was probably made from information contained in CVS’s sizeable database.
As an Orlando accident attorney who is interested in seeing our community rid of pill mills and the trail of death and destruction they leave behind, I think CVS’s decision seems like a wise first step toward controlling prescription drug abuse. Of course, this move is not going to stop pill mills from dispensing drugs directly from their clinics — which is obviously a practice still ripe for abuse. It will be interesting to see if the CVS experiment puts a dent in our area’s record of deaths from prescription drug abuse.
If you have questions about Florida pill mills, or the death of a friend or loved one as a result of a prescription drug overdose, call Winter Park personal injury attorney Kim Cullen at 407-644-4444.
