BILL WOULD MAKE DRUG DATABASE EASIER TO USE FOR INVESTIGATING ABUSE

Legislators will be asked to make the state's prescription-drug
database easier for police and health officials to use for
investigation of drug abuse.

A bill prefiled by Sen. Dick Roeding, R-Lakeside Park, would allow
police agencies to share information from the Kentucky All Schedule
Prescription Electronic Reporting System, or KASPER, and would require
health officials to search the database for patterns of possible pill
abuse by doctors and patients and report them for further
investigation.

The measure would also authorize the Kentucky Board of Medical
Licensure to automatically expand an investigation of one doctor to
other physicians in the same office or community if a pattern of
illegal prescribing is suspected.

Roeding, who co-chaired a task force last year with Attorney
General-elect Greg Stumbo that developed the proposals, said he thinks
the bill has an excellent chance to pass.

"There was very wide agreement on this," Roeding said.

KASPER keeps track of who writes and who receives drug prescriptions.
The system has put Kentucky at the forefront nationally in the ability
to track prescriptions, but strict rules on use of the information
have limited its use as an investigative tool.

Now, for instance, different police agencies can't share reports even
though they may be investigating the same person. And the system is
used only after a complaint is filed rather than used to identify
unusual activity.

Legislators will also be asked to consider several measures aimed at
rising methamphetamine use, including one that would make it illegal
to possess -- with intent to make meth -- two or more of the chemicals
or pieces of equipment used in cooking up the highly addictive stimulant.