Recent budget cuts may decrease the effectiveness of California's prescription drug database, a longtime tool for pain management physicians to curb prescription drug abuse, according to an NPR report.
"I think it's fair to say that we were able to weed out a significant number of people [with the database] who were either abusing or diverting their medications or hording them where we simply had no idea," said Francis Riegler, MD, of Universal Pain Management in Los Angeles.
Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown drastically scaled back the state's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the state's longtime prescription drug monitoring program, citing budgetary concerns. The program, which now consists of one employee at the Department of Justice, now relies on yearly grants from California medical and pharmacy boards, putting it in a precarious position without a source of permanent funding.
"Drug policymakers say what is ultimately needed is a national database," the report said. "That would prevent sophisticated criminal networks that pay patients to get prescriptions and hand them over from simply moving across state lines to evade detection."
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"I think it's fair to say that we were able to weed out a significant number of people [with the database] who were either abusing or diverting their medications or hording them where we simply had no idea," said Francis Riegler, MD, of Universal Pain Management in Los Angeles.
Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown drastically scaled back the state's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the state's longtime prescription drug monitoring program, citing budgetary concerns. The program, which now consists of one employee at the Department of Justice, now relies on yearly grants from California medical and pharmacy boards, putting it in a precarious position without a source of permanent funding.
"Drug policymakers say what is ultimately needed is a national database," the report said. "That would prevent sophisticated criminal networks that pay patients to get prescriptions and hand them over from simply moving across state lines to evade detection."
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