VIRGINIA RECEIVES FEDERAL GRANT TO TRACK SCHEDULE II DRUGS

Schedule II drugs, or those with the highest potential for abuse, include
OxyContin, methadone and Percocet.

A proposed computer database that will help police track prescription drug
abuse in Southwest Virginia has received long-awaited federal funding.

The state received a $180,000 grant from the Department of Justice that
will be used to implement a program in which prescriptions for certain
drugs will be entered into a database that police will be able to access.

In announcing the grant Tuesday, Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said the
database will be especially helpful in curbing misuse of OxyContin, a
prescription painkiller that is widely abused in far Southwest Virginia.

A task force headed by Kilgore called for the program in 2001, saying
authorities needed a central database of prescriptions to better
investigate "doctor shopping," the practice in which drug abusers feign
illness or injury to obtain medication from multiple physicians.

The General Assembly (http://legis.state.va.us/ approved a two-year pilot
program last year, but implementation was put on hold while the state
waited for federal funds.

Now that the grant has been approved, the database should be up and running
by late summer or early fall, according to Robert Nebiker, head of the
Department of Health Professions, the state agency that will run the program.

The database will record prescriptions filled at about 300 pharmacies from
Appomattox to Lee counties, allowing police to check for patterns of abuse
that cannot be detected by doctors or pharmacists.

When the system was first proposed, critics said it would violate the
privacy between a doctor and patient. But the legislation approved by the
General Assembly (http://legis.state.va.us/ sets strict limits on who can
access the information.

Only law enforcement officials who have already begun an investigation into
a patient or doctor would be allowed to retrieve the data, and only for the
named person. Unauthorized release of the prescription information is a
misdemeanor under the law.

The system will only track Schedule II drugs, or those with the highest
potential for abuse, such as OxyContin, methadone and Percocet.

In announcing the grant, Kilgore praised the efforts of Sen. William
Wampler, R-Bristol, who was instrumental in pushing for the legislation.