FLORIDA NEEDS BETTER DRUG MONITORING

The abuse of prescription painkillers has quietly reached epidemic
proportions in Florida. In the Tampa Bay area, prescription drug
overdoses kill more people than cocaine and heroin, and they are on
the way to becoming the leading cause of accidental death.

This is an escalating crisis that requires a multifaceted response,
including reopening discussions about creating a more effective state
monitoring system to crack down on doctor shopping.

An illuminating special report by Times staff writers Chris Tisch and
Abbie VanSickle recently described the dramatic increase in the abuse
of prescription painkillers. Last year alone, overdoses are estimated
to have caused 2,000 deaths statewide, including 550 in the bay area.
Families described the pain and loss of loved ones. Overwhelmed
judges and police officers detailed the difficulty in tracking those
who manipulate the health care system to obtain more painkillers than
medically necessary - and catching the complicit pharmacies and
doctors. Too many holes in the system make it too easy to forge
prescriptions or collect multiple prescriptions for painkillers that
can be abused or sold on the street.

This is not a problem that can be solved with a single solution.

The campaign against abuse of prescribed painkillers has to be as
visible as the one against illegal drugs.

Doctors and pharmacies have to be more vigilant in the way they
handle prescriptions for painkillers, and law enforcement has to be
just as serious about investigating this form of drug abuse as others.

Finally, legislators need to create a more effective monitoring
system to discourage doctor shopping and prevent abusers from
improperly obtaining multiple prescriptions for painkillers that can
be filled at multiple pharmacies with little fear of detection.

This is not an easy issue.

There are serious privacy concerns for patients who are suffering and
have legitimate prescriptions for painkillers. Doctors should not
fear writing proper prescriptions for patients who truly need pain
relief, and they should come to see additional computerized
monitoring as a tool to protect themselves against deception.

Unless the abusers and their enablers can be more easily identified,
it will only become harder for legitimate patients to get relief and
for their doctors to avoid an unfair cloud of suspicion.

Prescription monitoring isn't new. Insurance companies do it. Some 35
other states do it, and Florida does it for Medicaid patients.

A broader state law passed last year is ineffective because it
doesn't require pharmacies with different owners to share
information. Abusers with fake or multiple prescriptions for
painkillers from different doctors just have to be smart enough to
visit different chain drugstores in different locations.

The abuse of prescription painkillers is a public health crisis that
has devastated families, strained law enforcement and undermined the
credibility of law-abiding doctors and pharmacies. It requires a
comprehensive response that includes a narrowly drawn prescription
monitoring program which adequately protects privacy while providing
another tool to save lives and catch the criminals.