COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate, federal drug agents and the Ohio attorney general’s office sent a message on Tuesday that they are working to stem the abuse of prescription drugs in Ohio, a problem many say is nearing epidemic proportions.

The Senate unanimously approved legislation targeting pain-management clinics that supply the drugs. Separately, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency suspended a handful of Ohio doctors and a pharmacy from prescribing and distributing opiate painkillers and other controlled substances.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office was involved with the DEA’s efforts, which included a raid of a doctor’s office and pharmacy in Scioto County, a region in the southern part of the state plagued by prescription drug abuse.

DeWine’s office would not disclose specific locations involved in the raid because search warrants remain sealed.

"Today's action reinforces our commitment to putting an end to the prescription drug abuse problem in Ohio," DeWine said in a statement. "We are serious about this fight, and we aren't going to relent."

Addiction to prescription drugs has become so widespread that unintentional drug overdoses have been the state’s leading cause of accidental death since 2007, according to the governor’s office.

Previous Plain Dealer coverage

Prescription drug epidemic brings Southern Ohio county to its knees (

Shooting up a daily ritual for Scioto County woman (

Ohio Gov. John Kasich announces help for county ravaged by drug abuse (

Overdose deaths climb as painkillers, heroin pour into Ohio market (

A growing number of addicts hooked on OxyContin and other prescription drugs in Ohio have died from overdoses, committed crimes to support their addiction and flooded treatment centers.

Users crush and snort the pills or dilute them with water for injection for a heroinlike rush.

The bill passed in the Senate would increase accountability for the pain management clinics that distribute prescription drugs and limit the quantity of controlled substances a doctor could provide within given timeframes. It also would establish a take-back program to collect unused drugs and prevent them from being sold on the street.

The House of Representatives, which already passed an earlier version of the bill, will approve the Senate’s version later this week and send the bill to Gov. John Kasich, said Mike Dittoe, spokesman for House Speaker William G. Batchelder.

Kasich will sign the bill, a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the DEA on Tuesday cracked down on four doctors and a pharmacy that were involved in distributing prescription drugs that are commonly abused.

The DEA suspended the licenses to prescribe certain controlled substances belonging to Margy Temponeras, John Temponeras, Mark Fantazuzzi, Michael Dawes and Prime Pharmacy in Portsmouth. The licenses were suspended because the DEA decided the situation "constitutes an imminent danger to public health and safety," according to a DEA news release.

The doctors will not be allowed to prescribe drugs until a federal investigation is resolved.

Margy Temponeras defended her work in an interview with The Plain Dealer earlier this year.

"Some doctors are trying to help patients in a lot of pain -- we aren’t drug dealers, and we aren’t bad people," she said in February. "We are being vilified by the press and the fanatics who have had only negative experiences"

She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Under current state law, pain management clinics are exempt from a requirement that certain businesses be licensed with the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy to distribute controlled substances.

The bill approved in the Senate on Tuesday would require that pain management clinics also must obtain a license. Pain management clinic operators would have to prove the facility is owned and operated by an authorized physician. Workers at the clinics also would be subject to criminal background checks.

Senate President Tom Niehaus, a Republican from the Cincinnati area, said the bill strikes an appropriate balance between addressing a growing problem and ensuring those who need medication have continued access.