PROGRAM TRACKS PRESCRIPTIONS

Grant To Fund Databases At State Pharmacies To Prevent Doctor-Shopping,
Officials Say

The Mississippi Board of Pharmacy will receive a $349,915 grant on Monday
to help implement a prescription drug monitoring program , officials said.
Each pharmacy in Mississippi will have access to a computer database,
allowing pharmacists to track prescriptions and make sure people aren't
getting multiple prescriptions filled at different pharmacies.

Leland McDivitt, executive director of the state pharmacy board, said
"doctor-shopping," or getting prescription drugs from several sources, has
become a problem in the state.

"With this program, it prevents duplication and overlap," he said. "If you
get the same drug in two different places, the computer will know."

Mississippi was chosen three years ago as one of five states to test the
program.

U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., said the grant will get the program on
its feet, but he did not know how much it would cost to maintain it.

Officials hope the program will help reduce the number of deaths from
overdoses of such prescription drugs as the painkiller OxyContin.

"We've got a real bad problem with drug diversion in Mississippi,
especially when it involves OxyContin," said Bobby Grimes, enforcement
commander for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. "One of the problems
we've seen with OxyContin is people traveling out of state and back and
mixing it with other drugs. The combination causes overdoses."

Drugs such as OxyContin have a high street value and encourage
doctor-shopping, said Robin Hogen, vice president of public affairs at
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.

But the success of the monitoring program also depends on how it's carried
out in bordering states, Hogen said.

"The problem is, if a neighboring state doesn't have a prescription
monitoring program in place, the bad guys play the game and go over state
lines and do doctor shopping, and the problem won't be addressed," Hogen said.

The other pilot states for the program are Florida, Ohio, Virginia and West
Virginia. Currently, 13 states have prescription monitoring systems.
Kentucky and Utah are the only states with computerized programs.