ANTI-DRUG POLICY FOCUSES ON ABUSE OF PRESCRIPTIONS

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is pushing for stronger state
monitoring of prescription drug use in a crackdown on the escalating
abuse of sedatives, pain relievers and stimulants.

Under the strategy announced Monday, the government will pay states to
help develop monitoring systems to track a patient's drug use. The
programs would flag cases that indicate a pattern of abuse, such as
"doctor shopping," where a patient gets prescriptions for drugs from
multiple physicians.

Federal officials also plan to seek out pharmacies selling controlled
substances illegally over the Internet, an effort that will include
deploying modern Web crawler technology to search out those peddling
prescription drugs online.

The goal, say federal health officials: Reduce illegal drug use by 10
percent in two years and by 25 percent in five years.

" The nonmedical use of prescription drugs has become an increasingly
widespread and serious problem in this country, one that calls for
immediate action," John Walters, director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, said at a news conference.

Prescription medicine ranks second, behind marijuana, among drugs most
abused by adults and young people, according to a report by the drug
control office. Meanwhile, emergency room visits resulting from abuse
of narcotic pain relievers have jumped 163 percent since 1995, it said.

The plan would dedicate about $10 million in federal money to augment
prescription monitoring programs and expand them to 11 more states by
next year. Another $138 million would be dedicated toward physician
training and education programs as well as fighting illegal internet
sales.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of The Drug Policy Alliance, which
supports legalizing marijuana for medical use, said Bushes new
initiative will have a chilling effect on doctors.

" The principal impact of this campaign when you step up the law
enforcement response is that doctors will err on the side of under
treating pain, : Nadelmann said.

Karen Tandy, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said
teenagers are particularly at risk for prescription drug abuse. It is
her agency's job to crack down on illegal internet sales, including
the flood of spam with the lure of controlled substances at a low cost.

" Criminals who divert legal drugs into the illegal market are no
different from a cocaine or heroin dealer peddling poisons on the
street corner," she said.