Pubdate: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 Source: Tennessean, The (TN) 7282132 Copyright: 2003 The Tennessean Contact: http://www.tennessean.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/447 KEEPING TABS ON DRUGS If carefully administered, Tennessee's new controlled substance registry could prove to be a valuable tool to fight drug abuse. Beginning last week, every prescription written in Tennessee for certain drugs - most of them painkillers and all of them ripe for abuse - is recorded in a database. Access to the database will be tightly controlled. The law creates a committee to check the database for unusual usage patterns, such as one individual getting prescriptions for the same drug filled at numerous pharmacies. When potential problems become apparent, the committee is authorized to inform the appropriate medical authorities and under some circumstances, to law enforcers. The impetus for the new law was Tennessee's unusually high number of prescriptions for the synthetic narcotic hydrocodone, which is marketed under different brand names. Pharmacists had no way to know if customers were becoming addicted to the drug themselves or were reselling it on the streets illegally. But the volume of prescriptions for this drug convinced the Tennessee Pharmacists Association that some tracking mechanism was warranted. This was carefully crafted legislation, designed to try to help people with prescription drug addictions. It is now the state's duty to assure that the implementation is as careful as the crafting of the bill. It is none of the state's business what legal drugs are prescribed to its citizens. It is certainly no business of the employers of those citizens. But if individuals are getting prescriptions from more than one doctor for their own use, it could well be a health-care issue that requires a physician's intervention. And if they are getting multiple prescriptions in order to resell the drugs illegally, it becomes an issue for law enforcement. Drug addiction, whether it begins with prescription drugs or street drugs, tears families apart and wastes lives. Tennessee can't afford to miss an opportunity to detect prescription drug abuse. As long as the new registry doesn't overreach, it can be a real asset. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh