Florida Sees Decrease in Prescription Drug Related Deaths

In Florida, deaths related to oxycodone fell by 17.7% and overall prescription drug related deaths fell by 6.4%, state officials announced on October 24, 2012. Florida Governor Rick Scott and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi associated the decrease with the work of the Florida Statewide Drug Enforcement Strike Force as well as laws adopted in 2011 that helped to shut down pill mills. A news release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement notes, however, that while there was a “drop in prescription drug deaths, those drugs continued to be found more often than illicit drugs in cause of death.”