Governor Rick Scott doesn't want pill mill database

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida is ridden with pill mills. During a six months period, nine million painkillers were prescribed in just two South Florida counties.

Seven deaths a day are attributed to people in Florida illegally using legal drugs. Lawmakers created a prescription drug database to curb the problem. The database set to go online this spring would track people who go from doctor to doctor collecting meds.

Governor Rick Scott is taking a defiant stance against the database even though it’s heavily supported by members of his own party.

"I don't support the database. I believe it's an invasion of privacy," he said.

The database would help Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi in her fight to stop South Florida pill mills, but she's reluctant to chastise the governor's decision. "It's my goal to use every tool possible to shut them down. That includes implementing the rules that have been previously frozen."

The tension is building at the capitol.

Scott's not only catching heat from lawmakers in Tallahassee but the Feds and law enforcement officers in other states are fed up with him because they say the pill mill problem in Florida is also killing residents in their states.

New Port Richey Republican State Senator Mike Fasano, whose legislation created the database, says Scott can’t stop it. "It's in law and he can't just all of the sudden wipe a law out as much of what Governor Scott would like to do with some of our laws--he can't just wipe it out."

Legislative efforts are underway in the House to find a replacement for the database that satisfies the governor.