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THE FLORIDA SHUFFLE
How the Sunshine State tackled abuses in the drug treatment industry — and what Congress needs to do to finish the job By Rosanne Dunkelberger
PHOTO: The Workmans
W
ith the scourge of drug addiction, there is surely an especially hot seat in hell for those who would tout a powerful narcotic as nonaddictive. That’s doubly true for others who prey on addicts and their families by offering services designed to milk money from insurance companies and actually encourage a cycle of recovery and relapse. In his new book, “Fighting the Florida Shuffle: The Inside Story of Corruption in the Drug Treatment Industry and How One Community Found the Solution,” author Dave Aronberg takes a deep dive into opioid drug problems and a flawed drug treatment system — while proposing specific actions to alter well-intentioned federal laws being abused by bad actors. When it comes to drug abuse and treatment, the Palm Beach County native knows of which he speaks. One of his first assignments at the turn of the century as an assistant Attorney General under Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth was to investigate Purdue Pharma, which by then had been marketing the dangerous, addictive “new” pain-relieving drug, OxyContin, for about five years. OxyContin is a reformulation of oxycodone, a drug that has been used to treat pain for years. “What Purdue Pharma did was (take) oxycodone and put a time release coating over it, allowing you to have a smooth delivery of 12 hours of pain reliever. Wow, great, right?” he said. “Except the coating didn’t work that well, so you got a bigger pop at the beginning. And if you chewed through the coating or if you dissolved it in water, you got this massive hit right away. “That’s a game changer for those who want to get high. But also, when it was sold like it was Advil, it led to the addiction of millions of Americans who are going to their doctors looking for pain relief and Fall 2025
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