Opiods, opiates, and Pill Mills

Opioid addiction is a problem that is growing each year, despite the war on drugs.Opium has been outlawed for decades but opium's cousins continue to flourish. There are ever tightening regulations on prescribing them, the nationalized computer databases that track users to find those who are using illegal means to gain extra prescriptions.

There are also databases that find patients who "doctor hop" or "doctor shop" in order to gain multiple prescription from different doctors. Addicts will even cross state line in order to get the abundance of drugs that they need.

Then there are "pill mill" clinics which are essentially sham doctor offices which are not there to treat real patients with legitimate medical issues. They are simply there to serve addicts and their method of operation is simple and incredibly lucrative.

Patients sign up, submit minimal documentation of their "condition" which they claim has them in severe chronic pain and they are easily accepted as patients. Such clinics usually do not accept insurance but patients are happy to pay the $200 or more fee to be treated.

A typical visit means they pay about $200 cash,  gets them about 5 minutes with the doctor, gets them almost nonexistent medical care and they leave the clinic with a large script for strong opioid and possible a script for strong muscle relaxer and an anti-anxiety drug.

A common trio of drugs prescribed is high dosage opioid (such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, Oxycontin or dilaudid). Then a powerful muscle relaxer like Soma or its generic carisoprodol and then a powerful anti-anxiety drug such a Xanax (generic alprazolam) or a Benzodiazepine or Valium.

The combination of these three drugs is known on the streets as the holy trinity and hundreds of pill mills have been raided, had their profits confiscated and their doctors have lost their licensees and been sent to jail.