Broward County Leads Nation in Amount of Rx Oxycodone Dispensed Directly by Physicians

By - United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse

Among the 25 physicians in the United States who received the largest quantities of the powerful narcotic pain medication, Oxycodone for direct dispensing from their offices in the first half of 2008, 18 were from Broward County. The remaining 7 physicians were from 4 other Florida counties. These 17 Broward doctors received 3.383,200 dose units (or tablets) of Oxycodone between January and June of this year. The total dose units do not include the number of dose units dispensed by pharmacies, hospital or other dispensing physicians not among the top 25 in the nation. Oxycodone is the opioid pain medicationfound in Percocet (with acetaminophen) or Percodan (with aspirin) or OxyContin (sustained release form).

Neighboring Palm Beach County ranked second in the nation with 852,800 dose units received by 3 of the top 25 physicians followed by Miami-Dade County with 393,900 tablets sent to 2 dispensing physicians. Hillsborough County (Tampa area) ranked 4th with 126,990 units to one physician followed by Manatee County (Bradenton area) where one physician received 116,800 dose units.

In 2007 there were 57,066,602 dose units of Oxycodone shipped to Pharmacies, Hospitals and dispensing physicians in Broward County. While many legitimate physicians may directly dispense some medications, most do not offerthe highly controlled Schedule II opioids directly to patients. Rather they would writea prescription to be filled at a pharmacy. Physicians directly dispensing Schedule II narcotics are frequently associated with so called "Pain Clinics" offering "pills for pay" unlike legitimate pain management doctors. Pain Clinics have emerged as Florida has become a key source state for pharmaceuticals diverted from appropriate medical use. Florida's failure to enact a Prescription Monitoring Program over the past 6 years makes it the largest of only a few states without such a system.

There were 119 Oxycodone-related deaths in Broward County in 2007 including 85 where the drug was considered the cause of death and 34 where the drug was detected in the deceased person. Across Florida, there were 1,253 Oxycodone-related deaths including 705 where the drug was considered the cause of death.