USA Today Article

South Florida is a popular place for dealers and drug traffickers to come to all the way from my home state of Kentucky and surrounding states because there are so many "pain clinics" here to buy Xanex, Methadone, Hydro Codone, Oxycodone, etc.. I said "pain clinics" because they are not really treating people for pain. It is more like an mutual understanding that a patient pretends to be in pain, when the doctor knows that the patient is not really in pain, and the doctor knows that the patient is not in pain and the patient knows that the doctors knows that the patient is not in pain. It is really just a drug deal. The sad part is that some patients really are in pain, but they are giving the other patients a bad name. Perhaps some of these doctors really are concerned about their patients health and well-being, but maybe they are just overeducated and over trained dealers.

I hold the doctors more accountable because they have a duty to help provide a better quality of life for their patients. I had a client whom I believe was run through the system and prosecuted for DUI. My client may have been drinking and driving, but I think his bigger problem was pain pills. My big problem was why is the prosector after my client and no the pain clinic? My client is a result of a problem, not the source of the problem. The pain clinic was the source of his problem. I honestly believe that if the local government had shut down the pain clinic, then the local law enforcement would not have anyone to prosecute.

That case always haunts me becuse my client was so out of it that he said some awful things to the police officer who arrested him (spontaneous statements 90.803(1) and statements of then-existing mental, emotional, or physical condition 90.803(3) are admissible evidence). Not awful things about the police officer, but just awful things in general right into the video camera. I don't think my client was in the right state of mind, when he said those things. Those facing criminal charges should also be aware of DRE's, which stands for Drug Recognition Experts. These are police officer with special training who look for things like "the shakes", jittery behavior, nervousness, hyper-verbal, or just the opposite: overly relaxed, slurred speech, lethargic, overly relaxed, pupils, eye movement, etc.