STATE'S PHARMACIES DRAFTED TO SERVE IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Druggists prepare for new rules

Local pharmacists are unsure how a state law creating a new prescription
drug database will be implemented and how patients' privacy will be
protected.

The Controlled Substances Monitoring Act, which has been debated for about
four years, takes effect Wednesday. Rep. David Shepard, D-Dickson, who is a
pharmacist, sponsored the bill.

Shepard said the database grew out of officials wanting to decrease the
unusually high number of Tennesseans who inappropriately use hydrocodone, a
synthetic narcotic marketed under the brand names Vicodin and Loratab, among
others.

Hydrocodone is sold on the street and is often taken with alcohol to
increase the drug's effect, which is like a pain killer, said Sgt. Matt
Hardaway of the Jackson Police Department's Metro Narcotics division.

"It's pretty difficult to catch people" who misuse prescription drugs, he
said. Officers usually have to rely on information from doctors,
pharmacists, confidential sources and other insiders, he said.

A committee will analyze the database information to find trends and report
the information to medical and law enforcement officials. The Board of
Pharmacy controls the database.

Abusers often change drug stores and doctors frequently and even try to
purchase drugs with cash to avoid records, they said.

Pharmacists are concerned if they will have to cover any of the database's
expenses, be expected to upgrade computer software systems and be overloaded
with paperwork.

"My overlying feeling is it's a good thing. I think it should have been
anticipated earlier to get it implemented by the first of the year," said
Ashley N. Tanner III, a pharmacist and owner of Bakers Drug Store in
downtown Jackson.

He said he didn't know how pharmacists will balance the database along with
strict federal privacy regulations that restrict, for example, even the
information that can be given to spouses.

The new database is being funded through fees paid by pharmacists and other
drug dispensers, said Baeteena Black, executive director of the Tennessee
Pharmacists Association, which worked to get the law passed.

Since the database will contain sensitive personal information, deciding who
has access to it was a critical aspect of the legislative debate.

"We're writing the rules now for who has access, how the information can be
disseminated, what data are accumulated," said Kendall Lynch, director of
the state Board of Pharmacy.

Larry Pafford, a pharmacist in Alamo, said he hasn't made up his mind yet
about the database and that pharmacists haven't been given enough
information.

"We haven't been notified of the final action," he said.

A person came into his store, Irvine Drugs, several years ago with what
Pafford believed was a forged prescription. Police caught the person, he
said.

"I think each individual pharmacy is policing itself now, and I know each
individual insurance company is doing the same," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

On the Net

Tennessee Attorney Generals Conference, www.tndagc.com

Tennessee Pharmacists Association, www.tnpharm.org

Tennessee Board of Pharmacy, www.state.tn.us/commerce/pharmacy/