CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH

MEMORANDUM

DATE:                        January 21, 2009

TO:                 D. Mike Good, City Manager

FROM:            David Jove, City Attorney

SUBJECT:     A Resolution of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Urging the Florida Legislature to Pass Legislation in the 2009 Session Curtailing the Abuse of Prescription Drugs in the State CAD#008/09

PURPOSE:

To consider a resolution urging the Florida Legislature in the 2009 Session to pass legislation curtailing the abuse of prescription drugs.

DISCUSSION

The abuse of prescription drugs such as Oxycontin and Oxycodone in Florida is becoming an epidemic. In 2005, the State of Florida issued a report entitled “Why Florida Needs a Prescription Validation Program,” which described how scheduled drugs in the state that are prescribed by physicians are diverted from their intended use and then abused or illegally sold.

Although existing Florida regulations provide for limited identity verification procedures, such procedures have not been effective in stemming the tide of the abuse of prescription drugs in the state. In Broward County, for example, the Broward Sheriff’s Office has stated that hundreds of thousands of individuals enter Florida specifically to obtain and abuse pharmaceutical drugs. Drug Enforcement Administration statistics show that Broward County is the number one county in the country dispensing Oxycodone. The abuse of such prescription drugs is a statewide problem which deserves the immediate time and attention of the Florida Legislature.

RECOMMENDATION:

The City Commission adopt a resolution urging the Florida Legislature in the 2009 Session to pass legislation curtailing the abuse of prescription drugs.

Reviewed:

_______________________________                                                          __________

D. Mike Good, City Manager                                                                           Date

_____Approved                _____Disapproved                _____Hold for Discussion