KEEPING TABS ON DRUGS

A State Database on Narcotic Prescriptions Is Reasonable

A bill to set up a controlled substances database has passed the Alabama
Senate and is in the hands of the House. But it may be giving some folks
heartburn. What, they say, gives the government the right to know what
pills a citizen is taking?

If the database, as outlined in the measure sponsored by Sen. Larry Means,
D-Attalla, included everything from blood pressure to cholesterol
medication - and drugs that deal with more intimate problems - those
worries would be well-founded.

Such information might be kept secret, but it might not. And if it fell
into the hands of insurance companies and banks that have no business with
it, it could adversely affect employment and financial standing.

But, assures the Medical Society of the State of Alabama, the bill does
nothing of the sort. Instead, it prevents the kind of abuse that folks like
radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh have been alleged to have committed -
"doctor shopping" so that narcotics and other addictive medicine can be
stockpiled for use or sale.

It's a real health problem, and one that Alabama is wise to try to prevent
- - for the good of the state and for the individuals beset by addiction
problems.

The database will allow the state Department of Public Health to monitor
the prescribing and dispensing of dangerous drugs.

The bill will not only allow the state to know when individuals obviously
are abusing controlled substances; it will also help finger those doctors
who can, under current conditions, operate as legal drug dealers.

It's important, though, for the state to keep proper safeguards on the type
of drugs it monitors. Controlled substances, which are addictive and
dangerous, are one thing. All other prescription drugs - called "legend
drugs" - have no business in anybody's database.

With that important distinction solidly in place, the House should support
the Senate-passed measure.