Drug-abuse trends seesaw
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Oxycodone sales are down across the state, law enforcement officials say. But in Charlotte County, the decline in oxycodone sales has not equated to a decline in drug abuse. Many addicts simply have switched to more easily available substances.
State and federal authorities claim the so-called pill-mill legislation enacted last year in Florida has had a dramatic effect on the amount of oxycodone being sold around the state.
The Drug Enforcement Administration reported this year that sales of the drug declined 97 percent between 2010 and 2011 in Florida, in part because the nation’s top prescribers of oxycodone were stripped of their power. Florida held 90 of the top 100 prescribers, the DEA reported.
