Small Town News

Governor proposes bill for prescription monitoring program

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Goal is to prevent doctor shopping for medications

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell recently announced a bill designed to create a prescription drug monitoring program aimed at preventing improper prescription practices and doctor shopping for drugs. More than 34 states have similar prescription drug-monitoring programs, which have the capacity to reduce the supply of available prescription drugs for abuse.

The legislation would authorize the state's Office of Controlled Substances to establish a database of prescription information from pharmacies in the state to be used for the prevention of prescription drug abuse. Doctors would be able to check the database before giving prescriptions for controlled substances, to check drug interactions and screen for possible drug abuse.

Pharmacies, excluding those in healthcare facilties, would be required to report specific information to the program.

"The abuse and diversion of prescription medication has reach an alarming level and is on the rise," Markell said. "Delaware is not immune. Robberies and burglaries of Delaware pharmacies are at an all-time high. As much as possible, we want to prevent drugs from getting into the hands of drug abusers. States that have implemented prescription monitoring program have the capability to collect and analyze prescription data much more efficiently than states without such programs."

Nonmedical use of prescription drugs ranks second only to marijuana as the most prevalent category of drug abuse. Some examples of the most abused controlled substances are Oxycontin, Vicodin, Adderall, keta-mine, Xanax, Valium and Percocet.

The Delaware Medical Society has volunteered to help promote the use of the program by its members.

The legislation establishes criminal penalties for improperly accessing, utilizing or disclosing prescription drug-monitoring program information.





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