Georgia Pain Management Clinic ActThis legislation has passed the House and is in a Senate subcommittee. If approved and signed into law, it would require:• All pain management clinics must be licensed by the Georgia Composite Medical Board.• Must renew their licenses twice a year.• Clinics must be owned by physicians licensed by the state.• The medical board may establish minimum standards of continuing medical education.• After an application is filed, the medical board may conduct a thorough investigation of the applicant.Source: Georgia Pain Management Clinic Act
When a suspected pill mill opened in Ringgold, Ga., a month ago, Catoosa County officials scrambled to pass an ordinance that would limit how pills could be prescribed to the public.
Officials said they feared that out-of-state drug abusers would flock to the area for oxycodone, hydrocodone and Xanax from the pill mills, which often call themselves pain management clinics.
“It’s a good thing we’re doing whatever we can to protect our youth and the county as well,” said Keith Greene, chairman of the Catoosa County Commission, which passed the law.
At least five other Georgia cities, including Kennesaw and Smyrna, have passed ordinances to curb an influx of businesses that are suspected to be pill mills – clinics with lax restrictions that prescribe large doses of painkillers.