This May, authorities charged Gregory Brummitt and Sandra Bulla with first-degree murder. Broward County Florida deputies said the pair beat fellow Carter County resident Terry Williams to death in a Florida motel room.
In June, the Greene County Sheriff's Office arrested more than two-dozen people, and charged them with the illegal sale and delivery of pain medication.
On Saturday, Unicoi County investigators arrested Johnny Casey. They said he sold undercover agents $3,600 worth of prescription pills.
Local sheriffs said all three cases have one thing in common: Florida pill mills. According to the Florida Department of Health, there are more than 2,500 registered pain management clinics in the state (as of July second).
"It's unbelievable how many of these hotels are full of Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and South Carolina tags," Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes said.
"It's very frustrating when you have families who come in every week, and have children and grandchildren who are addicted to pain medications," said Greene County Sheriff Steve Burns. "They are destroying their lives."
"There's quite a bit of profit involved," said Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris. "They will go to several different pain clinics, and they will make several trips per month."
Florida State Representative Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton) said the Sunshine State became a magnet for pill poppers and pushers all over the East Coast, but thinks the tide has turned.
In 2009, Skidmore and other state legislators enacted a prescription drug monitoring program (SB 462). Funding was a major hurdle. The economic situation in Florida delayed the program, because legislators could not pass a bill to fund it, Skidmore said.
She said grants and private donations have been secured, and the program will be in place on December first.
In April of 2010, they passed a follow-up bill (SB 2272). Governor Charlie Crist signed it into law on June fourth. That bill has four major points:
1. Owners of pain clinics must be physicians.
2. Convicted felons can't own pain clinics.
3. Clinics can't advertise that they sell narcotics.
4. Physicians can't dispense more than 72-hours worth of medicine to cash paying customers.
Skidmore said she hopes the new restrictions will help legitimate doctors who treat patients with legitimate pain.
Click the play icon above for a video version of this report.
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