Pubdate: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain) FLORIDA NEEDS DATABASE SYSTEM TO TRACK PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE ISSUE: Florida still pays a heavy price for pain-medication abuse. "Doctor shopping," the illegal amassing of pain medication for either sale or abuse, has been a longtime South Florida problem. The good news is that the region can devise its own model solution, with a little help from an unlikely source. Florida needs a database system that tracks prescriptions for potentially lethal antidepressants and narcotics to help authorities spot suspect prescriptions. Establishing such a system, though, may be wishful thinking, since the Legislature has rejected the idea six times before. Unfortunately, the do-nothing option isn't an alternative that can be tolerated much longer. The abuse of prescription drugs has become the leading cause of overdoses, and the pushers of these lethal prescriptions, the men and women who visit physician after physician to obtain pain medication, is a particularly prevalent problem in South Florida. Legislation that would establish a pilot project computer database for prescriptions in South Florida should be a high priority in next year's legislative session. The state has tried alternatives, from requiring tamper-resistant prescription pads to using computers to write prescriptions. Those options, however, have not made a significant dent in the problem. A pilot program approach should give lawmakers extra comfort. Not only would authorities have a new tool, but the program would give law enforcement and medical personnel the opportunity to flush out any lingering concerns over the privacy of medical records, a concern that stopped past efforts to implement a database. The pilot will cost the state government some money, but lawmakers can ease that burden by including provisions to encourage officials to seek private-public partnerships with pharmacies and pharmaceutical firms that have a vested interest in curbing the misuse of their products. Doctor shopping for prescriptions has been a festering problem for too long. There are enough lawmakers who are familiar with the issue. What's needed now is the political will to take that important step to address the issue. BOTTOM LINE: Start a pilot program.