Associations between pain clinic density and distributions of opioid pain relievers, drug-related deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and neonatal abstinence syndrome in Florida

Although pain clinics, some of which are “pill mills,” are clearly a source of drugs used nonmedically, their impact on health outcomes might be difficult to quantify because the pills they prescribe might be consumed in other counties or states. The impact of “pill mill” laws might be better measured by more proximal measures such as the number of such facilities.