TAMPA - Declaring an emergency, Hillsborough is cracking down on pain clinics, desperate to save the three to five people dying of overdoses every week in the county.
The pain pill epidemic, now being compared to the crack-cocaine scourge of the 80s, is fueled, police say, by Florida's unregulated pain clinics.
Some clinics, a recent FOX13 investigative report showed, cater to out of staters who take the pills home to sell for huge profits.
Daniel Rodda says his son Kelly, who'd been injured in a motorcycle crash, ended up hooked on pain pills, thanks to a bad doctor.
He says his son's death has left with the kind of pain no pill will heal.
But before his death, Kelly said his son described easy access to the pills.
"He told me that if he took [the doctor] $200 --had to be cash --he would give him whatever he wanted," Rodda said.
Amanda Fisher's dad says he's lucky she's alive.
"I feel like I'm the lucky one that still has a child alive, even though she's presently in jail," Scott Fisher told commissioners.
Parents and deputies came to the Hillsborough County Commission meeting pushing for a crackdown on Hillsborough's un-regulated pain clinics.
"we investigate 3 to 5 deaths a week resulting from prescription drug use," said Sheriff's Major Donna Lusczunski.
Commissioners watched a FOX 13 investigation that revealed the huge amount of out-of-staters coming here to buy pills to be sold back home at giant profits.
Chris Brown of the Sheriff's Legal Staff told the commission it's a business fueled by easy money.
"The simple answer is money, this is big business. A lack of regulation in Hillsborough County and overall in the State of Florida, those are the two reasons this has become such a problem," Brown said.
After the discussions, Commssioner Kevin Beckner lead the charge.
"I move," Beckner said "that this board declare an emergency."
They voted 7 to 0 for a new law that forces licensing, inspections, and background checks. It even bans "cash only" clinics.
"This type of action is long overdue," said Attorney Dale Sisco, who represents the MD and More pain clinic on Hillsborough Avenue.
He says out-of-staters are challenged, everyone's medical reports are double checked, and there's even urine testing.
"If the urinalysis shows that the patient is lying to the clinic about whether they're taking prescription pain meds," Sisco says. "They get kicked out."
Meanwhile, the Hillsborough Medical Examiner's office says it had to hire another doctor, just to keep up with autopsies on the growing number of overdose victims.
The new law takes effect June 15th and it bans the opening of any new clinics, at least until a new state law, tracing script drugs, kicks in later this year.
By, Warren Elly Fox 13 News