HOUSE REJECTS PROPOSAL TO CREATE PRESCRIPTION-MONITORING PROGRAM

Lawmakers Concerned About Cost, Civil Liberties

The Program Would Establish A Database To Help Police Track Addicts Who
Pose As Patients.

RICHMOND - A House of Delegates panel voted Tuesday to defeat legislation
authorizing the creation of a prescription-monitoring program to curb the
abuse of drugs such as OxyContin in Southwest Virginia.

Opponents of the measure raised concerns about patients' privacy rights and
engineered the bill's defeat in the House Health, Welfare and Institutions
Committee.

Supporters of the program, including Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, want
the state to establish a database to help police track addicts who pose as
patients to get medicine from multiple physicians. The practice, known as
"doctor shopping," has been identified as a significant problem by
Southwest Virginia law enforcement agencies struggling to deal with crimes
linked to abuse of the painkiller OxyContin.

A House bill authorizing a statewide monitoring program was held over until
next year because of concerns about costs and civil liberties.

A Senate bill sponsored by Sen. William Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, was
designed to set up a pilot monitoring project in the 9th Congressional
District, which covers much of Southwest Virginia. Wampler said the project
probably would have been eligible for federal funds earmarked for
prescription monitoring programs created by individual states.

But opponents of the measure said Wampler's bill could open the door to
privacy violations by those who have access to prescription information.

Del. Ken Melvin, D-Portsmouth, called the bill "a creepy crawler" that
"unnecessarily infringes on privacy."

"Think about when you're going to the pharmacy and you're standing in
line," Melvin said. "That's one place where you have an expectation of
privacy."

Wampler and Deputy Attorney General Bradley Cavedo said the legislation
contains adequate safeguards to ensure that information in the database is
kept closely guarded.

Creation of a computerized monitoring program was a key recommendation of
the state's Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force, established last year by
former Attorney General Mark Earley. Wampler's bill was originally intended
to establish a statewide program, but he amended it at the request of
doctors who sit on the task force.

Under Wampler's bill, the Department of Health Professions would establish
the program and would notify the attorney general's office or local
prosecutors of possible criminal activity by drug buyers, doctors or
pharmacists.

Wampler said he hopes the prospect of getting federal funding will
encourage lawmakers to reconsider his legislation before the General
Assembly session ends next week. But he also wonders whether his colleagues
fully appreciate the severity of the drug problem in his home region.

"I'm not sure they understand the impact, because if they did, they would
support the bill in a flash," he said.