Atlanta, GA: Prescription Drug Database Bill Clears House

Prescription drug database bill clears House

By April Hunt 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Physicians and pharmacists can review their patients’ prescription history -- one way to see if they are addicts or drug dealers -- under a database approved Thursday by the Georgia House.

The Senate already approved the bill (SB 36) that requires pharmacists and doctors who dispense medicines to report to the state weekly on who receives prescriptions for a broad spectrum of potentially addictive drugs. Schedule I to Schedule V drugs range from those with no accepted medical use such as heroin to those with low potential for abuse such as the antidiarrheal drug Lomotil.

The amended bill passed 117-45 after more than 90 minutes of debate.

The online database would be password protected but searchable by doctors, dentists and pharmacists. Law enforcement would need to receive a Superior Court subpoena to tap into the records if they suspected wrongdoing.

“It’s not like you can Google Tom Weldon and say, ‘Let’s see what kind of drugs he’s taking.’ That’s not what this is about,” said Weldon, R-Ringgold. “This is for medical providers.”

Weldon carried the bill in the House by adding language from his proposal for a database, House Bill 184. The issue is personal for him, he said, because of two young men in his area who overdosed after taking illegally obtained OxyContin with Xanax and alcohol.

Opponents were not comforted by criminal penalties for those who negligently use the database or release information from it, arguing that patient privacy is at stake. Such concerns halted similar legislation in the past, making Georgia one of the few states that do not operate such databases or are not in the process of setting one up.

But Florida's new governor has pledged to repeal that state's current database, said Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock, over cost and privacy issues. Rep. Christian Coomer, R-Cartersville, added that grants will not cover the cost of the database and its security. He said that the state of Washington already shut down its database, one of the first in the country, over costs.

"This program does not pay for itself. This is going to be a very attractive site for hackers," Coomer said, noting a similar database in Virginia was compromised. "It didn't work for them, and it's not going to work for us."

Because of the amendments, the proposal returns to the Senate for review before a final bill can head to Gov. Nathan Deal.