Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday the state will be able to continue its Prescription Drug Monitoring Program—with some creative funding. The Legislature did not approve money for the drug program this session.
Bondi says the prescription drug monitoring database has been crucial in the state’s fight against "pill mills." Florida’s oxycodone death rate has fallen sharply over the past couple of years. And Bondi says she was surprised to see the Legislature adjourn this session without renewing funding for the program.
“So it was very important to us," she says. "Forty-nine states have an active prescription drug monitoring program, and Florida is not going to be one of them that does not have one.”
Bondi says almost two $2 million the state won in a legal settlement with CVS Caremark will go toward funding the program for another four years.
