REGISTRY CALLED WAY TO DETECT PILL ABUSE

Senate OKs Plan To Curb 'Doctor-Shopping' For Drugs

Legislative supporters of a computerized system to help detect
abusers of prescription drugs invoked the memory of Dr. Stephen
Gleason, a prominent physician and former top aide to Gov. Tom
Vilsack who committed suicide Saturday.

The proposed prescription-drug monitoring program is aimed at curbing
"doctor-shopping," whereby people get multiple doctors to write
prescriptions for the same drugs.

"We know of some celebrities that have been doing it, and they were
lucky that someone helped them. We know of a friend and a colleague
today who wasn't as lucky . . . who took his own life because he
wasn't able to deal with his addictions," said Sen. Jack Hatch, a Des
Moines Democrat, in urging fellow senators to support House File 722.

Gleason's death came six weeks after the 59-year-old physician
publicly acknowledged that he was being treated for a relapse into an
addiction to prescription painkillers.

Legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday would establish the
prescription-drug monitoring program but limit access to the drug
database to pharmacists and doctors.

The Senate's version of House File 722 would ban law officers from
looking at the registry unless they obtain a court order to
investigate a specific person. The same limit would be placed on
state regulators who oversee doctors and pharmacists.

"This is not a punitive bill. This is a bill to treat folks who are
addicted to prescription medications," said Sen. James Seymour, a
Woodbine Republican.

Doctor-shopping examples cited by Seymour included a west-central
Iowa woman who obtained 400 tablets of OxyContin, a narcotic drug,
from five pharmacists and a central Iowa man who obtained morphine
and other addictive drugs by using 20 medical professionals who wrote
prescriptions for him at nine pharmacies.

Twenty-one states have prescription-drug monitoring programs.

The funeral for Gleason, a former director of the Iowa Department of
Public Health, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today at St. Augustin's
Catholic Church in Des Moines. The Legislature plans to adjust its
debate schedule so members can attend.

House File 722 returns to the House for more debate.