From the 3/8 Show – State Representative Juan Zapata and State Senator Mike Bennett Misguided

This week’s two rings went to the two Florida Legislators who are sponsoring a Bill before fellow Florida lawmakers that will give the Nurse Practitioners in the State of Florida the legal authority to prescribe Scheduled drugs. The argument is that Florida is only one of three states that does not allow a nurse to prescribe codeine for a cough. The problem with that argument is that prescribing “innocuous” codeine for a cough also would give the nurses the authority to prescribe OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Ritalin and more. Using street slang, we already have enough “junk”, “downers”, “goofballs”, “benzos”, and “speed” that are destroying individuals and families in our country. The medical profession has convincingly proven to us that they can’t be trusted to monitor their fellow doctors on the highly addictive and dangerous narcotics that are going out on our streets by the tens of thousands of pills every day. To add thousands of more individuals in the medical profession to carry around a prescription pad that would allow more distribution of narcotics is beyond ludicrous. I hope Zapata and Bennett come to their senses and withdraw SB 426 and HB 1259 immediately.