Final answer:
Florida law regulates schedule II prescriptions to prevent abuse, due to past issues with over-prescribing opioids leading to statewide drug problems. Specific quantity limits are put in place to avoid recurrence of such issues, ensuring the prescriptions are used appropriately.
Step-by-step explanation:
Under Florida law, schedule II prescriptions, which include powerful opioids like Oxycodone, are heavily regulated due to past abuses. During the 1990s and into the 2000s, Florida earned a reputation as the pain medicine capital of the United States, largely because a significant number of unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists were profiting from over-prescribing these medications. These prescription drugs were often resold illegally, leading to significant drug abuse and the term "The OxyContin Express" being coined for the transportation routes used to distribute these drugs from Florida. In response to this crisis, Florida imposed more stringent controls on the prescribing and dispensing of schedule II drugs.
While specific quantity limits may vary and are subject to change with new legislation, the intention behind these regulations is to prevent the kind of widespread abuse of prescription painkillers that Florida has previously experienced. These laws aim to balance patient access to necessary medications while preventing the medications' diversion and abuse.