Rx drug database is worth sparing
20.05.12
At a time when prescription drug abuse and overdoses have reached epidemic proportions nationwide, California officials are preparing to shut down the database used to track abusive pill seekers and doctor shoppers.
Ending this database would be dangerously shortsighted and costly, reversing years of proactive prevention work aimed at thwarting prescription drug abuse in this state. Doctors would no longer be able to check an important and lifesaving database to see if a patient is doctor shopping or using multiple narcotics at the same time. Law enforcement efforts would be severely hampered.
California’s prescription drug monitoring program, founded in 1939, is the oldest in the nation. Its database, known as the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES), contains more than 100 million entries of controlled-substance drugs.
In addition to its widespread use by law enforcement, CURES responds to more than 60,000 requests from medical practitioners and pharmacists each year. The database provides information critical in the fight against prescription drug diversion and abuse.
Source: SignOnSanDiego.com