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Posted on Sun, Jan. 04, 2004

DRUG ABUSE
Proposal to track pills may pass at last
As talk host Rush Limbaugh is investigated on suspicion he illegally used prescription pills, lawmakers plan a tracking system to cut down on prescription abuse.
BY MARC CAPUTO


In just six months, radio host Rush Limbaugh received 1,900 prescription pills from four different physicians in what South Florida investigators suspect was a classic case of illegal doctor-shopping.

Limbaugh became the highest-profile pain-pill user under criminal investigation when his addiction was disclosed this fall. But his case -- right down to the staggering number of pills -- is far from unique.

Statewide, investigators are trying to determine who's illegally using, distributing and writing prescriptions, which are implicated in the overdose deaths of five Floridians a day. Those investigations might have been easier if not for some of Limbaugh's biggest fans -- conservative lawmakers in the Florida House of Representatives.

The GOP-controlled House has twice killed a proposal to create a statewide database to track prescription abuse. Were it up and running, investigators could type a computer query to find suspicious patterns of doctors writing prescriptions, patients receiving them or pharmacies filling them.

But to Republicans like House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, it sounded like too much big government invading people's privacy. So the bill never made it to the governor, even though it has twice passed out of the Senate, which is controlled by more moderate Republicans.

This year, the proposal is back and Byrd has agreed to support it. Senate sponsor Mike Fasano said the bill, which will be debated Tuesday in a Senate committee, has new confidentiality requirements to satisfy Byrd.

Fasano said the system should accomplish the ultimate goal: cracking down on addiction and drug pushers.

''I don't know the specifics of Rush Limbaugh's case, but if the House had passed this bill, it would never have gotten to this point. It would have stopped doctor-shopping,'' said Fasano, R-New Port Richey.

``One doctor could have stopped this immediately, and the pharmacist as well. They could have seen that whatever was being taken was being over-prescribed. They could have called the authorities then and there.''

REPORTING REQUIRED

Under the proposal, a doctor would be required to submit data to the Florida Department of Health concerning a patient, his prescription and the amount. When the prescription was filled, the pharmacist would be supposed to transmit the information within 35 days, by either e-mail or regular mail.

If the doctor or pharmacist accessed the confidential $2 million Web-based database and noticed something suspicious with the prescriptions, he could contact police. Investigators could look at the information only if they had an active investigation. Any unauthorized use of the database would be a third-degree felony -- just as doctor-shopping is.

Byrd said he wants to discard the system in two years if the Legislature doesn't renew it. This would show if the system actually works without invading people's privacy for too long.

The bill carries a handful of reporting exemptions for doctors treating children under age 16 and for hospitals and other care centers distributing prescriptions to in-house patients.

''Last year a significant number of the members expressed concerns over the invasion-of-privacy aspects of the proposal . . . ,'' Byrd said in an e-mail. ``I believe that assurances that the legislation will have safeguards regarding privacy, and that cost estimates for the system are reasonable and containable, should make the bill more palatable to the members.''

Byrd said he hopes the bill passes because of the ``menacing problem for our society.''

Limbaugh, who has repeatedly told his 20 million listeners that drug users should be incarcerated, admitted his addiction and sought treatment after the National Enquirer broke the story in October.

His attorney, Roy Black, said in court that his client committed no crime and was prescribed the pills for legitimate reasons. Black persuaded a judge to seal Limbaugh's medical records, which prosecutors want to examine. Black couldn't be reached for comment.

RADIO CAMPAIGN

Limbaugh, who hasn't been charged with a crime, initially promised to cooperate with prosecutors, but has begun using his radio program on 600 stations to accuse the Democratic state attorney, Barry Krischer, of unfairly singling him out.

Florida's drug czar, Jim McDonough, said law enforcement sources have told him that Limbaugh was receiving prescriptions from his doctors and from an illegal pharmacy in Lake Worth. McDonough said the alleged transactions from the illegal pill mill would not have shown up on the proposed database because they would not have been reported.

But Limbaugh's trips to pharmacies near his Palm Beach mansion would have been available -- and would have shown something was amiss, McDonough said.

According to a Nov. 15 warrant to search the offices of Limbaugh's four doctors, he was prescribed 1,733 hydrocodone pills, 90 OxyContin pills, 50 anti-anxiety Xanax tablets and 40 pills of a time-release morphine called Kadian from March to September.

Those numbers stun McDonough, who says such quantities could have killed the average person.

''He's lucky he's still alive. If the system was up and running, it would have served to give him a warning and his doctors a warning,'' McDonough said.

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Yes, I caught the "60 Minutes" program this evening. They are right - the "War on Drugs" is a complete failure! You know it has to be true when even judges say so! Look at New York's "Rockefeller" Laws - how many 1st timers or innocent "carriers" (mostly unknowing women) are still locked up 15 years later??? But - someone please tell me - how many actual "Drug Kingpins" are locked up???

This may sound good coming out of a politician's mouth when he's trying to stir up voters emotions - "Get tough on drug users and crime!" But that's just not reality!

I get so fired up about this, I could just go on forever, but I won't. What I will do is say this one thing:

To the government:

PLEASE stop protecting me from myself!!!!

I am 53 years old, very well educated, have a higher than average IQ, and I can make my own decisions very well, thank you! I have raised 5 children, run a successful business with my husband, traveled the world, taught Sunday school, practiced psychotherapy - and guess what.... I'm still here!!! I live with constant, daily pain and I know more about my body, my pain, my tolerance levels and what works for me than you do!!! So, please - stay out of my doctor's office! I can take care of myself, make my own informed decisions, and if I screw up, I'll take the blame! Ok??? I don't need - or want - you "saving me from myself" or telling me what's good for me!

Whew! This may not sound very lady-like, but it's the truth! And I can promise you this - I would say exactly this same thing to any one who might have the power to do anything about it!

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WELL Said, Miss_Ettikit! You made my day!

the brat

edited because I am not real sure what I am doing with the quote and copy/paste thing!

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Brat

Edited by bratchild (01/06/04 12:24 PM)

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''I don't know the specifics of Rush Limbaugh's case, but if the House had passed this bill, it would never have gotten to this point. It would have stopped doctor-shopping,'' said Fasano, R-New Port Richey

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State senators endorse drug database to pinpoint abuse by doctors, patients

By Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
Posted January 7 2004

TALLAHASSEE · A statewide computer database to help investigators determine who is illegally using, prescribing and handing out narcotic painkillers and other drugs appears likely to win approval this spring after years of legislative debate.

Stymied before by concerns over privacy and funding, the computerized system was unanimously endorsed Tuesday by a state Senate health care panel and is expected to clear the Republican-run Florida House.

The goal of the system would be to cut down on so-called "doctor shopping," in which patients visit several physicians to obtain drugs, either to feed their addiction or to sell on the street.

In 2002, there were 9,116 drug overdoses in Florida. Thirty-six percent of those deaths involved prescription medicines. Prescription drug abuse accounts for an average of five overdose deaths a day in the state, exceeding deaths from illegal drugs such as cocaine or heroine.

"This system will save lives. Law enforcement and state officials would be able to track more closely any patterns of abuse," said state Sen. Mike Fasano, the New Port Richey Republican sponsoring the Senate version of the legislation and a companion measure that exempts much of the data from ordinary public records access. The proposals are contained in Senate Bills 578 and 580.

Under the proposal, backed by Gov. Jeb Bush, a doctor would be required to submit data to the Florida Department of Health concerning a patient and the patient's prescription.

When the order is filled, the pharmacist would also send an electronic record of the order to the department.

If the doctor or pharmacist accessed the confidential, Internet-based database and noticed anything peculiar about the prescriptions, they could contact law enforcement or state health officers.

Investigators could look at the information only if they had an active investigation under way. Unauthorized use of the database would be a third-degree felony, subject to up to five years in jail and fines up to $5,000.

Currently, law enforcement has access to the information, but not in an organized database.

The system would track more than 100 commonly prescribed medications, including every prescription written by doctors, filled by patients and dispensed by pharmacists. The information would be held for two years.

James McDonough, director of the governor's office of drug control, has said the database is necessary to give police and health professionals a warning that drug abuse and dealing may be going on under a doctor-patient relationship. Such fraud and abuse was first tracked in a 2002 South Florida Sun-Sentinel series "Rx for Death."

The newspaper reports highlighted the problems of addiction and overdose deaths in Florida tied to, among other drugs, the painkiller Oxycontin. As a result of the news accounts, Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, pledged $2 million toward software for the program in exchange for the state dropping an investigation into how the company marketed the painkiller.

Legislators are still wrangling over how to pay ongoing costs of running the system, which Fasano said may exceed $1 million a year.

The legislation urges -- but doesn't require -- the system be designed to allow "real-time" access to the data. In such a system, a patient's drug history could be retrieved while the patient is still in the examining room or waiting at the pharmacy. At least 15 other states have put some prescription monitoring system in place, but most take significant time, sometimes weeks, before a doctor or pharmacist can learn of a patient's drug use history.

House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and other Republican legislators worried about lack of medical privacy are pressing for limits on the system.

As a result, the legislation says the database will be destroyed in two years if the Legislature doesn't renew it.

Also, it exempts reporting drug history information for children under 16 and for hospitals, nursing homes and other care centers where drugs are distributed.

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Despair...

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1. This thread and the accompanying newspaper articles pertain to the actions of the Florida legislature, not the federal government.
2. Even though the last article says in its title, "State senators endorse drug database...," the article goes on to say that it was actually only the Senate health care panel that had endorsed adoption of the legislation.
3. Even though both of the articles posit that the Florida House of Representatives will likely approve the bill, it hasn't happened yet.
4. According to the articles, the Florida speaker of the House and other representatives blocked this legislation in the past and their opinions don't appear to have changed much.
5. The House hasn't approved the bill, the Senate hasn't approved the bill, the Governor hasn't signed the bill and the newspapers are leading us to believe it's a done deal?
   

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Senate battles prescription drug abuse 1/9/2004

A Senate Committee is attempting for the third year straight to pass a plan that would collect the personal information of all those with prescription drugs.

The idea is to create a database maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement of personal information of all those who at one time may have used a prescription drug.

Legislative staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, Larry Spalding says the problem is determining who is going to have access to the data and under what circumstances. Spalding says the proponents of the bill feel there is now a better chance of passage because of the notoriety of the Rush Limbaugh case. Although more people are now talking about the problem of prescription drug addiction, Spalding says protecting the personal freedoms of innocent people is a big price to pay for something that does not guarantee complete capture of offenders.

The bill continues to be met with resistance in both the House and the Senate

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• Proponents of the bill are hoping the Limbaugh story will aid them in getting the bill passed.
• The ACLU has problems with the bill
• "The bill continues to be met with resistance in both the House and the Senate."

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