"Pill Mill" Regulations Likely To Be Extended

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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - The House is poised to give final approval to a bill (SB 450) that would extend regulations placed on pain-management clinics after Florida became a hotbed of prescription-drug abuse and trafficking.

House members took up the bill Tuesday and could vote on it as soon as Wednesday. The Senate has already passed the measure.

Lawmakers in 2011 approved a wide-ranging law to try to crack down on "pill mills" that popped up throughout the state. But lawmakers included a Jan. 1, 2016, expiration date on clinic regulations. The bill would eliminate the expiration date, with House sponsor Ross Spano, R-Dover, saying that in the past unregulated pain-management clinics were "spreading like wildfire."

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.