Lawmakers may monitor use of medications DaltonNow / Charles Oliver / 1,7,2011 The General Assembly may be taking a look in your medicine chest. Rep. Tom Weldon, R-Ringgold, said Thursday he will introduce legislation this year to battle “pill mills.†“We don't have a searchable database that sheriffs and law enforcement can go in and see who has been buying meth products and who has been buying an excessive amount of pills,†Weldon said at the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce's Good Morning Dalton breakfast. “We've got a problem going up and down I-75, and our kids are being exposed to a lot of pharmaceutical drugs. We need to limit that,†Weldon said. He said the database would include the names of those who buy over-the-counter medications that can be used to make methamphetamine as well as those who buy prescription drugs. Weldon said law enforcement officials will not need a warrant to search the database but they will not have “unfettered†access to medical records. “It will have a limited scope. We are working on that. We are going to make sure there's no violations of privacy for law-abiding citizens,†he said. Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said such a database would “be a big plus†for law enforcement. State Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, said he supports the concept of a database but his idea of how it would work differed from Weldon's. “My understanding of it is that it would be aimed at pharmacists,†Bethel said. The idea, he said, is that pharmacists would be able to see what prescriptions patients are getting filled elsewhere and spot those who may be filling prescriptions from multiple doctors or those who may be getting excessive amounts of prescription drugs. “I'm hesitant to say that law enforcement absolutely shouldn't have access to this database,†Bethel said. “But there are privacy concerns with respect to health care that we need to respect, and secondly, we need to be careful about getting law enforcement involved in doctor-patient relationships. I think the health care community is, for the most part, responsible when it comes to prescription drugs.†more WoD funding ahead
Great, I don't see how this could get bad Understandable, as it's not exactly their concern to know if someone is using presciption strength ibuprofen. But if you have people going to multiple phramacies and getting multiple presciptions, isn't that abusing the system? See above.
WTF this is an outrage. Who the fuck other then a doctor is to say what excessive amount of pills is? My father is terminally ill and has a mini pharmacy going on. He gets 3 different types of Narcotics and yes I think its excessive but if it helps him live a pain free life and is under a doctors supervision then who cares. We already get hassled by pharmacy's last thing we need is for him not to be able to fill a persecution because he gets flagged on some list. He is so frail that the withdraws from the pain pills will kill him. I see the good intention but there are going to be a lot of negative consequences.