Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with Bob Macdonald, who is the newly appointed Executive Director of the Florida Prescription Drug Monitoring Foundation (PDMP). The Florida PDMP, is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization incorporated with the Florida Department of State.  The Foundation operates as a direct support organization for the Florida Department of Health to provide funding and support for the Florida Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).

The Foundation consists of a board of directors appointed by the Florida Surgeon General, and consists of both community and business leaders working to save lives through fundraising for the PMDP to combat the deadly consequences of drug abuse and diversion. Currently, Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight is on the board. In short, the Foundation seeks to prevent more parents and family members from losing loved ones and friends from accidental overdose due to prescription drug-related incidents by putting bad actors out of business while improving patient standard of care in our state.

At the meeting, I presented Director Macdonald with a check in the amount of $20,000 from the Florida Sheriffs Association. The FSA Board of Directors had approved the donation back in September 2013 when they approved the FSA budget from the coming year. The Sheriffs in our state have long advocated for the establishment of the PDMP as a tool to help reduce the deaths associated with prescription drug abuse and diversion. On average about 7 people a day die in Florida as a result of prescription drug overdose. At one time, Florida was considered the “pipeline” for most of the black market prescription pain pills that were found in northern states. I am happy to say that this is not the case in anymore. Today, the death rate is down and most of the pill mills that supplied the pipeline have been shut down and the rogue doctors who ran them have left the state and or were arrested.

To learn more about this issue, and the great work that the PDMP is doing, I encourage you to visit their website and consider supporting their work via a donation.   

Together we are winning the war in prescription drug abuse and many lives are being saved. Have a good week.