CRIST SHOULD SIGN FLORIDA PRESCRIPTION DATABASE

Aweek after the Florida Legislature overwhelmingly voted to create an
electronic monitoring system for prescription drugs, 13 lawmakers
wrote the governor seeking a veto.

They said their concern was for Floridians' privacy, citing a recent
security breach at a similar prescription database in Virginia. But
Gov. Charlie Crist needs to look beyond that security anomaly so
Florida can join 32 other states with databases. The state's
prescription drug problem is growing and its lax regulation has drawn
the equivalent of pharmaceutical tourists from other states with
tougher laws. For sure, a database won't solve all the problems in
this era in which pharmaceuticals can be found via unregulated
Internet providers. But it's a necessary first step toward curbing the
abuse.

The database created under Senate Bill 462 would track prescriptions
and sales of pharmaceuticals starting in December 2010. Doctors and
pharmacists could review a patient's history before writing or filling
a prescription - which should curb doctor shopping and attempts to
fill prescriptions at multiple pharmacies. State officials expect to
receive federal funds to cover the $4 million cost. The measure also
would require privately owned pain management clinics to register with
the state.

The regulation is needed. Last year, 3,000 people died in Florida from
prescription drug overdoses - three times the deaths attributable to
illegal drugs. The problem is multifaceted: teens raiding medicine
cabinets; those in chronic pain taking too much of their prescription;
addicts who doctor shop to secure a new prescription for their next
high.

But part of the problem is also Florida's fledgling pill mill industry
- - so-called pain clinics. In the second half of 2008, the top 50
doctors dispensing the narcotic oxycodone were all in Florida,
including 33 in Broward County, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration.

The fallout is seeping across state lines. Florida is the largest of
12 states that hasn't approved a prescription drug monitoring program.
Kentucky Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, who is a surgeon, lobbied Florida
House Speaker Larry Cretul from afar for a Florida database. The
reason: Since his state began its own monitoring program several years
ago, several Kentuckians have died from overdoses of Florida
prescriptions, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. And in April, the
Los Angeles Times detailed how Tennessee "" which has a database ""
has seen an uptick in drug trafficking that originated with
prescriptions obtained in Florida.

For years, Florida lawmakers, citing privacy concerns, resisted calls
for a database even as 38 states signed on (six states' databases are
being developed). And on the same day the Florida House approved the
bill, a hacker threatened to expose the confidential records in
Virginia's database unless he was paid $10 million. So far, the threat
hasn't been carried out, nor has the hacker been caught.

The 13 House members who wrote Crist on May 7 cited the Virginia
incident. But a veto would be a knee-jerk reaction that would only
embolden the state's fledgling pill mill industry. For sure, security
is a concern any time government collects private information on
individuals. And safeguards are needed to protect privacy,
particularly that of patients who have valid prescriptions. But
Florida has a horrendous prescription drug problem that is costing
lives and destroying families across state lines. The database would
allow the overwhelming ranks of law-abiding doctors and pharmacists to
play a role in attacking the problem. That is in the state's best interest.