LAWMAKERS MAY MONITOR USE OF MEDICATIONS

The General Assembly may be taking a look in your medicine
chest.

Rep. Tom Weldon, R-Ringgold, said Thursday he will introduce
legislation this year to battle "pill mills."

"We don't have a searchable database that sheriffs and law enforcement
can go in and see who has been buying meth products and who has been
buying an excessive amount of pills," Weldon said at the
Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce's Good Morning Dalton breakfast.

"We've got a problem going up and down I-75, and our kids are being
exposed to a lot of pharmaceutical drugs. We need to limit that,"
Weldon said.

He said the database would include the names of those who buy
over-the-counter medications that can be used to make methamphetamine
as well as those who buy prescription drugs.

Weldon said law enforcement officials will not need a warrant to
search the database but they will not have "unfettered" access to
medical records.

"It will have a limited scope. We are working on that. We are going to
make sure there's no violations of privacy for law-abiding citizens,"
he said.

Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said such a database would "be
a big plus" for law enforcement.

State Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, said he supports the concept of a
database but his idea of how it would work differed from Weldon's.

"My understanding of it is that it would be aimed at pharmacists,"
Bethel said.

The idea, he said, is that pharmacists would be able to see what
prescriptions patients are getting filled elsewhere and spot those who
may be filling prescriptions from multiple doctors or those who may be
getting excessive amounts of prescription drugs.

"I'm hesitant to say that law enforcement absolutely shouldn't have
access to this database," Bethel said. "But there are privacy concerns
with respect to health care that we need to respect, and secondly, we
need to be careful about getting law enforcement involved in
doctor-patient relationships. I think the health care community is,
for the most part, responsible when it comes to prescription drugs."