TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida Board of Pharmacy was in the Capital City Monday holding a controlled substance standards committee meeting.
Members of the board say opioids have taken the lives of too many Floridians and they are committed to finding new ways to fight the crisis.
They are reviewing changes that can be made to standard practices for filling controlled substance prescriptions, including electronic ones.
The board wants to make sure opioid prescriptions are in the hands of the right people and patients know how to properly dispose of any unused medicine or prescriptions.
They plan to do this by cracking down on the process a pharmacist goes through when prescribing controlled substances.
"The number of deaths has skyrocketed over the past 10 to 12 years that have been mostly attributed to opioids," said Jon Hickman, a Florida Board of Pharmacy member. "So, we're going to do what we can to kind of carve out where prescriptive opioids are being part of the problem. "
Hickman adds, they know prescriptive opioids aren't the whole problem, but largely contribute to it.
Monday's committee meeting is one of several happening in the Capital City this week. The full pharmacy board meets on Wednesday to make their final votes.
