DEA: Oxycodone Buys Down Significantly After 'Pill Mill' Crackdown

By Michael Whiteley, Eastern Bureau ChiefFlorida's crackdown on "pill mills" cut physicians' purchases of the opioid painkiller oxycodone by 97% during 2011 and appears to have driven the business to Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, according to a report issued last week by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).Leaders of the Florida House on Monday credited the passage of House Bill 7095 with drastically reducing the purchase of the painkiller by physicians last year and reducing its overall purchase by pharmacies by 14%. The law took effect on July 1.Oxycodone is marketed un...