VA. HOUSE OK'S NARCOTICS DATABASE

RICHMOND, Va. - The House of Delegates passed legislation
Thursday that would create a database to track narcotics prescriptions
in southwest Virginia, a region struck hard by abuse of the painkiller
OxyContin.

The Senate passed a broader bill Feb. 11 that sought to track an array
of narcotics statewide. The House legislation would collect data only
in part of the state and only for the class of highly addictive drugs
that includes OxyContin.

Opponents argued a monitoring program would invade the privacy of
patients who legally use the drug, a slow-release narcotic prescribed
to cancer patients or others who suffer severe, chronic pain. Abusers
usually crush the pill, then snort or inject it for a quick,
heroin-like high.

The bill aims to help authorities track people suspected of faking
ailments to obtain the painkiller from different doctors. It would
require pharmacists who dispense OxyContin or other narcotics in its
class to put in the database detailed information about the patient.
Police could access the information.

The House bill would start the database as a two-year pilot program
operated by the state Department of Health Professions. The
Legislature then could decide to expand it statewide.

The bill now returns to the Senate to consider the House
revisions.