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Old 07-29-2009, 05:29 AM
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Timebuster
The truth shall set you free
 
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5,267
A large number of states (half or more) have established centralized databases to monitor patients' prescriptions and prevent them from obtaining multiple scripts.

The big question is whether the systems allow law enforcement access to the system. For example, Alabama's law allows law enforcement to access it with probable cause:

Prescription Drugs: Alabama to Join Growing List of States Tracking Prescriptions

There's no doubt that some states are arresting patients on this basis as well. See Kentucky, for example, were some 19 patients were recently arrested:

A two-day roundup netted 19 people arrested on charges of prescription drug fraud and related offenses, said the commissioner of the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation.

The sweep began yesterday in Franklin County, where 10 were arrested, and continued today in Woodford County, where there were nine arrests, said David James.

All the individuals in Woodford County were wanted on charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or deceit, also known as "doctor shopping." In that form of prescription drug fraud, a person goes to multiple physicians to obtain duplicate prescriptions of controlled substances.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 20 states have established similar databases. They are California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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