Missouri government pushing for prescription drug monitoring program

Missouri is the only state that doesn’t have a prescription drug monitoring program.

Representative Holly Rehder said if Missouri passed this legislation it would allow Missouri to keep up with the rest of the country.

However, opponents of the system said it brings up some serious privacy concerns for people who don’t abuse prescriptions.

Rehder said a prescription drug monitoring system should not be a privacy concern for patients who are being treated for chronic pain.

“How is this different than medical records? When you’re sitting in your doctors office and he’s giving you a prescription he’s typing it into the computer. When you’re at the pharmacy and he’s filling your script he’s putting that into the computer,” said Representative Rehder.

This monitoring system would be a database for doctors, pharmacists and sometimes law enforcement to check patients history who are using prescription drugs.

Focusing on pain killers and narcotics, advocates for the system said it would not contain information about antibiotics or other medications.

Advocates for the system said 3% of these drugs are misused in Missouri.

Senator Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, who’s also a physician, has continuously opposed this bill once it gets to the senate, as he said he can see a privacy concern with the bill.