Florida’s long-debated prescription drug database will start taking effect Thursday, with pharmacies and other providers required to report information about dispensing controlled substances such as OxyContin and Xanax.
Providers will be required to submit information within seven days of dispensing the targeted drugs.
Ultimately, the database will be used to help flag potential drug abusers.
Also, the Florida Department of Health announced this week that a “public health emergency” has been lifted. Surgeon General Frank Farmer imposed the emergency July 1, after it was included in a bill that lawmakers passed this spring to try to crack down on unscrupulous pill mills.
The bill called for using the public health emergency to gather and seize dangerous controlled substances from doctors’ offices.
The bill bans most doctors from dispensing those drugs.
