Dear Friends,
Many people have contacted me to express their concerns about pain management clinics, which have opened in the city of Orlando. There has been an alarming increase in the illegal and dangerous abuse of prescription pain medications, which has been caused, in large part, by the establishment and operation of “Pill Mills” here and, throughout the State of Florida. You may have seen news stories about these clinics and their impact on drug abuse and crime issues. Unfortunately, Florida does not have an adequate monitoring system for prescription drugs but I hope that our state legislators will deal with these issues in the next legislative session. In the meantime, like Orange County and several other local governments, on Feb. 7, the Orlando City Commission will likely approve an ordinance to help address this problem.
The proposed
ordinance will:
-Impose a temporary moratorium on the opening of any new pain management clinic in the city
-Impose a temporary moratorium on the relocation of any existing pain management clinic within the city
-Impose a temporary moratorium on the physical expansion of any existing pain management clinic within the city
-During the moratorium, require such clinics to accept electronic funds transfer for goods and services provided onsite
-Restrict the hours of operation for such clinics to between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
-Establish the city of Orlando Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force for the purpose of investigating and reporting to the Mayor on the current epidemic of prescription pain medication abuse and the pain management clinic industry
That said, the city of Orlando is limited in how much it can permanently regulate these clinics, so I encourage you to contact the governor’s office and your state legislators to urge them to deal with this issue as soon as possible.
Narcoossee Road update
It seems like there are two questions everyone asks about needed road projects: When is it going to start and when is it going to get done? The Narcoossee Road project is getting closer to completion. I have been told that it will be completed this spring. Thank you for your patience with this much needed project.
District 1 e-mail list
From time to time, I send emails to keep people up to date on District 1 issues and events. If you would like to be added to this list so that you can also be up to date and receive these e-mails, please e-mail or call me. Or, if you would like to be taken off the list, please let me know.
Questions or comments
If you have any other questions, comments or concerns, please call me at 407-246-2001 or e-mail me at phil.diamond@cityoforlando.net . My aide, Jeanne Wilson, can be reached at 407-246-3011 or e-mail at jeanne.wilson@cityoforlando.net and Police Officer Edgar Malave can be reached at 407-246-2513 or e-mail at edgar.malave@cityoforlando.net. Our web site is www.cityoforlando.net/district1.