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52 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, September 18, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend August 29, 2004 Tracking abuse is no simple task By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Jim Roberts would like to see the state crack down on doctors who write too many prescriptions for methadone and other narcotic pain medicines. "Anybody can go anywhere and get anything they want if it’s a legal drug," says the White City man, whose son, Mike, died of a methadone overdose in April. "It sickens me to see how easy it is to get these drugs." People who work with pain medicines and those who use — or abuse — them say it’s not as easy as it might seem to control access to potentially lethal drugs. "Addiction is always with us," says Dr. Jim Shames, medical officer for Jackson County. "This (methadone abuse) is just another form it takes." Advertisement Physicians say they can spot most people who are trying to obtain drugs they don’t really need, but some people sneak through despite doctors’ best efforts. "I’ve been fooled," says anesthesiologist Dr. Erich Weber. "I’ve definitely been fooled." Pharmacists notice people who bring them too many prescriptions for pain medicines, but most doctor shoppers are smart enough to use several different pharmacies. Punishing a person who provides a lethal dose of drugs to someone else is difficult because the key witness is dead, says Lt. Dewey Patten of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Nevada, Idaho and other states have created a centralized database to track narcotic prescriptions. A copy of every narcotic prescription goes to the agency that collects the data, which helps to identify doctor shoppers and people who abuse prescription narcotics. Oregon pharmacists brought that idea to the Legislature in 2003, but the proposal drew criticism from physicians and civil liberties groups. Senate Bill 690 would have given the state Board of Pharmacy responsibility to maintain the database. The Oregon Medical Association opposed the bill because it infringed on patient confidentiality. "Anybody who had any reason to have a prescription for any (controlled) drug could be kept track of," says OMA spokesman Jim Kronenberg. Kronenberg says physicians also balked at the notion of extra paperwork on top of the mountain of forms they already have to complete. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon opposed the proposal because it would have created a database full of sensitive information and handed it to pharmacists who would not necessarily have any experience in managing it. "We’re concerned about any agency creating databases," says Andrea Meyer, ACLU Oregon’s legislative director. Meyer says civil libertarians did not like a provision that would have given the pharmacy board authority to release information about patients to law enforcement agencies without a warrant or probable cause. Meyer characterized the proposal as "wholly inconsistent with the privacy that Oregonians cherish." "It’s not the role of the state to collect private information and act like Big Brother," she says. Arguments like those carry little weight with Jim Roberts, even though he acknowledges his son bears responsibility for ingesting the drugs that took his life. "We’re frustrated," he says. "We don’t know how to fight this. You just get frustrated and want to throw your hands up and quit." Pharmacists plan to rework their proposal for the 2005 session of the Legislature, says Gary Schnabel, director of the Board of Pharmacy. They’ve recruited representatives from "all the groups that are touched by doctor shopping and drug seekers" to try to craft a bill everyone can support. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities