Pubdate: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2009 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/section/opinion04 Website: http://www.heraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 PAIN AND PUNISHMENT Drug Database Could Work Against Patients The news out of South Florida is certainly scary -- illicit "pill mills" providing prescriptions of potent painkillers to addicts and dealers, combined with soaring death rates from legal narcotics. The Legislature's predictable response: Pass a law meant to curb prescription drug abuse through a statewide database that tracks doctors who prescribe controlled drugs, and patients who are issued such prescriptions. Lawmakers didn't fund the database, and it won't be operational until late next year. That's time enough to reconsider the breadth of the net the state is casting. Deaths from recreational prescription-drug abuse are generally limited to one of a handful of powerful pain medications such as oxycodone, sold under brand names including OxyContin, and hydrocodone, also known as Vicodin or Lortab. Yet the state would record prescriptions for hundreds of drugs, including Ambien (a commonly prescribed sleep aid) and medications prescribed for attention-deficit disorder. And it would keep the information -- including the name, address and birth date of patients -- on file for up to two years. The legislation, signed last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, would probably have provided more useful information by targeting prescription drugs associated with known trafficking patterns and high levels of abuse, and giving Florida health officials a quick-response law allowing them to target the bogus "pain clinics" in Broward and Miami-Dade counties that are luring drug dealers from across the nation. Florida's new law includes some important protections. It doesn't track prescriptions for hospice or nursing-home patients, and it doesn't include prescriptions for children under 16. But the Legislature should consider testimony from other states that have had databases in place for years. Those accounts suggest doctors are more reluctant to prescribe pain medication, even to patients who need it, when database laws are in place. Florida officials should add a hotline for patients who believe they have been denied pain medication unfairly. "Once doctors know that there is a . . . database of controlled substances prescriptions that overzealous law enforcement will be scrutinizing to harass doctors, there may be no doctors left who are willing to treat chronic pain," said U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, arguing in 2004 against a nationwide drug database. That should be a serious concern for Florida lawmakers, who represent a population that includes a large proportion of seniors -- who are, in turn, more likely to need pain relief and palliative care. The growing number of illicit prescriptions flowing from South Florida provides a genuine source of statewide concern. But the Legislature's solution shouldn't cause more pain than it relieves. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake