Carl Hiaasen, Pam Bondi Weigh In on 'Bath Salt' Drug Scare

Carl Hiaasen, Pam Bondi Weigh In on "Bath Salt" Drug Scare

By Stefan Kamph Mon., Jan. 31 2011 at 6:19 AM

Erowid.org

Not your mama's bath salts.

What's off-white, crumbly, sold in gas stations, and goes up your nose? Hint: You're not actually supposed to take a bath with it. The party drug MDPV, marketed as "bath salts," packs the anxiety-laden punch of a vat of coffee and the comedown of a mild meth tweak, and apparently it's all the rage among kids in Florida. It's been the subject of a spate of Sun-Sentinel articles recently, and now Attorney General Pam Bondi says she's having nightmares about failing to ban the substance.

Carl Hiaasen, in his Herald column, takes the state government to task for freaking out about bath salts while its response to an estimated seven deaths a day from prescription drug overdoses appears pretty lackadaisical.

Proposed laws to clean up fly-by-night pain clinics that don't keep track of their prescriptions are caught up in lawsuits and Rick Scott's

efforts to cut spending. Some new rules from the Board of Medicine would require a quick urine test for pain-clinic customers; that's being held up by Scott's regulatory reform office.

So what about Bondi's nightmares? "I frankly had a nightmare last night that someone was going to overdose on this and we hadn't done anything," she confided. Hiaasen took her to task:

Interestingly, she didn't mention having any nightmares about Florida's storefront pain clinics, which are still handing out Vicodins like Tic-Tacs, and overdosing customers at the rate of seven fatalities per day -- more than heroin, crystal meth and cocaine combined.

Granted, what her nightmares are really about is probably the possibility that Rick Scott will hamper any kind of targeted drug-prosecution effort. He's already nixed the state Office of Drug Control, which leaves the attorney general (who doubtless has other things to do) in charge of fighting overdoses through prosecution. As the War on Drugs has shown us, that's exactly the least effective way to reduce drug abuse.

Then Scott froze all new regulations until his staff can go through them one by one, which leaves criminal pill prescribers in the clear. The clinic owners who want to operate legitimately are left scratching their heads about what the law might be a few months from now.

Bondi hired former state Sen. Dave Aronberg to fight "pill mills" from within her office, but there's no extra money for his post: She has to shuffle resources around from other departments. So the AG is left fighting a supply-side battle with few resources under an administration that's comically skeptical of anything that costs more than a prayer.

Sorry, Pam. The last thing you need is another drug to combat. Might want to go draw a hot bath, close your eyes, and pretend that "bath salts" don't exist.

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Tags:

bath salts, Carl Hiaasen, Dave Aronberg, mdpv, Pam Bondi, Rick Scott

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LawyerJoe

Paul, do an average of 7 people a day die from prescription pill overdoses in this state?

passei

We will soon find out the truth on that.....be prepared for the answer. I assure you that you will not like the answer but it will be factual.

You may not like this stat either and I assure you the # has increased dramaticly since this release:

A 2004 government study estimated between 2 million and 3 million doses of codeine, hydrocodone and oxycodone are stolen annually from pharmacies, distributors and drug manufacturers. (Associated Press)

LawyerJoe

Wait for Paul Sloan to come tell you why Bondi shouldn't be worrying about pain clinics at all because they take care of themselves and there's already some great rules in place and the seven people who die everyday in this state don't exist, don't have families who love them, or are somehow not their fault. Then he'll blame New Times again.

passei

Here is what we had to say to Mr. Hiaasen's using stats out of context:Lawyer Joe< I know you hate the truth so maybe you shouldn't look!

http://www.prnewswire.com/news...

passei

Lawyer Joe,

Our Society has lobbied hard for most legislation that is now in place including the prescription Drug Monitoring Program and the AHCA Chapter 400 part x licensing requirement for pain clinics which ended the cash only loophole and now bars felons from being involved in pain clinics either as owners, staff or physicians. We were the only organization that has attended and testified at every Board of Medicine and PDMP rules workshop and hearing over the past two years. We are the most vocal supporters of the new BOM rules and regulations for Pain Management Clinics.

What have you done LawyerJoe? Just make silly un supported statements on blogs?

http://www.prnewswire.com/news...

passei

Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 9:54 AMTo: Commissioners; O'Neil, Terry; Dekle, Murriah; Gandhi-Savdas, Pinal; Parker, Adrienne; Kilbride, Robert; Lyons, AliceCc: Paul SloanSubject: RE: Pain Clinics: New Rules Approved

Dear All:

For the past few days I have been working with Paul Sloan, Executive Director, Florida Society of Pain Management Providers, Inc., regarding our proposed “pain management clinic” ordinance. Paul has been clear, direct, thorough and very helpful with his timely assistance. It was Paul who first alerted us (indirectly) that last Saturday, the Florida Board of Medicine adopted new rules for pain clinics affecting MDs. Paul helped write these new rules. The rules aren’t final yet (they have a notice and challenge period under Chap 120, F.S.), but they are expected to become final within 90 days. There is a meeting of the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine this coming Friday to consider similar provisions. Meanwhile, the City’s zoning moratorium will expire on September 22 (eight days before the new state law on pain clinics takes effect). Based upon the timing, we need to adopt a suitable ordinance, even if it needs to be tweaked later. Paul Sloan has reviewed several iterations of the ordinance, and we have settled on the attached version, for now. I just want to acknowledge his invaluable assistance, and thank him for his quick help. Paul

Paul J. Nicoletti, City AttorneyFlorida Bar Board Certified in City, County & Local Government LawCity of Stuart121 SW Flagler AvenueStuart, FL 34994-2139

passei

And guess what Joe we fully support Pam Biondi too...read for yourself:

My public statement released nationally when the Palm Beah trashed Biondi:

In response to Ms. Swans January 7th Post editorial in which she stated that the appointment by Attorney General Pam Bondi of Senator Aronberg as the pain clinic special prosecutor was "a waste of money." It is the society's position that The Post's editorial standpoint is nonsensical and seems to be nothing but a strangely misguided attack on the Attorney General and Senator Aronberg especially in light of the fact that the Governors Office of Drug Control has been closed. Now that the required tools are coming into place to regulate pain clinics the shift will be to investigations and prosecutions and who better to oversee that then the Attorney Generals office and who better to head the unit then Senator Aronberg, a former prosecutor with the AG's office.