Senators Jeff Sessions and Dick Durbin Introduce Prescription Drug Monitoring Legislation
SENATORS JEFF SESSIONS AND DICK DURBIN INTRODUCE PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONITORING LEGISLATION
Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) Are Co-sponsors
Thursday, March 3, 2005
[WASHINGTON, DC]-- Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced legislation designed to help states prevent prescription drug abuse.
Sessions and Durbin discussed their legislation at a news conference with Reps. Edward Whitfield (R-KY) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), who are sponsoring a similar bill in the House of Representatives. The House last year passed the Whitfield-Pallone bill. Sessions and Durbin introduced a prescription drug monitoring bill last year in the Senate, but it was not acted upon.
The Sessions-Durbin legislation, entitled the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, would create a federal grant program to help establish or improve state-run prescription drug monitoring programs.
"Over the past 10 years, the abuse and diversion of prescription drugs has grown from a regional crisis to a national epidemic," said Sessions, who as a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) chaired a hearing on the subject last year. "We need to help states mount an effective response to this problem, while ensuring that physicians have the information they need to provide their patients safe, timely and effective treatment for pain and other medical conditions."
"The illegal trafficking in prescription medications constitutes a particularly troublesome aspect of the substance abuse problem in America," said Durbin. "And while this illegal drug trade costs us billions of dollars each year, there is an ever higher price - one that is measured in pain and sorrow - that is being paid by the families of those who become addicted."
Sessions and Durbin said that while press coverage has frequently focused on the abuse and diversion of OxyContin and other narcotic pain relievers, the problem extends to several classes of commonly prescribed drugs, including tranquilizers and stimulants. It's estimated that more than 6 million Americans are current abusers of prescription drugs that fall within these three classes.
Nineteen states, including Illinois, currently have operating prescription drug monitoring programs. According to the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws, an additional 24 states are actively pursuing program establishment. Alabama passed legislation last year to establish a program which is expected to be operating by next year.
A 2002 report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) suggests that these individual state programs have been quite successful, but the report also clearly describes the limitations of the current approach. For example, while patients can and do cross state lines regularly to seek appropriate medical treatments calling for prescription drugs, others travel to neighboring states for the purpose of gaining inappropriate access to these medications. The scope of the problem is unknown, because not all states have programs in place, and existing programs are not yet equipped to efficiently and effectively share information across state lines.
Sessions and Durbin said the ultimate aim of their legislation is to make it possible to share the information across all state lines while maintaining the privacy of individual patients' medical records. Their bill would authorize $95 million through 2011 for state drug monitoring programs.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the ranking member of the HELP Committee, and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), also a HELP member, are co-sponsors of the Sessions/Durbin bill.
"The national problem of prescription drug abuse worsens every year," said Kennedy. "Physicians want to treat pain without contributing to addiction. Law enforcement officials want to stop the flow of prescription drugs from pharmacies to the streets. A national prescription drug monitoring program will provide a valuable resource to achieve these goals."
"Access to pain relief improves the quality of life for millions of Americans, many suffering from serious and debilitating illness. But when abuse of these drugs occur, it's a prescription for disaster," said Dodd. "This common sense measure will help ensure that we don't turn a blind eye to drug abuse while still ensuring that patients have access to important medicines that make a difference in their lives."
http://durbin.senate.gov/releases.cfm