RX Drug Reform Bill Advances
Oklahoma Senate panel passes bills aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse
By BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau
OKLAHOMA CITY - A Senate panel on Monday passed two measures aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed Senate Bill 1821, by Sen. A.J. Griffin, R-Guthrie, that would require doctors to view the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control Prescription Monitoring Program before prescribing controlled drugs.
Those who dispense prescriptions are required to submit the information to a central repository maintained by the agency. The information includes the prescription and the patient receiving it.
Darrell Weaver, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Control director, said in a letter to panel members that the measure would provide doctors with a tool to identify patients who are doctor shopping and may have already been receiving multiple medications from other medical facilities without the physician’s knowledge.
“Recent studies have ranked Oklahoma first in the nation in prescription opioid abuse and as high as fifth in opioid deaths,” Weaver’s letter said.