NC Sheriffs Want Access To Prescription Database

North Carolina sheriffs want access to state computer records that identify people with prescriptions for certain drugs, an idea that patient advocates oppose.

The state sheriff's association proposed the idea Tuesday to a legislative health care committee. The records identify anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances.

Burke County Sheriff John McDevitt said prescription drug abuse is the county’s biggest drug problem this year, adding that more people in the county die of accidental overdoses than from homicides. He said access to the records could save lives.

“I did CPR on a 21-year-old girl Friday night who overdosed on prescription medication and we were able to save her,” McDevitt said. “It's a huge problem we're dealing with everyday.”

The state began a database in 2007 to help doctors identify patients who go from doctor to doctor looking for prescription drugs they may not need and to keep pharmacists from supplying patients with too many pills.

Nearly 30 percent of state residents received at least one prescription for a controlled substance in the first six months of 2010, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Nearly 2.5 million people filled prescriptions in that time for more than 375 million doses. The database has about 53.5 million prescriptions in it.

About 20 percent of the state's doctors have registered to use the information, and 10 percent of the pharmacies are registered.

Some patient advocates said they're concerned about privacy issues for people in pain.

“I don't feel that I should have to sign away my privacy rights just because I take an opioid under doctor's care,” said Candy Pitcher of Cary, who volunteers for the nonprofit American Pain Foundation.

The American Civil Liberties Union opposed a bill in 2007 that would have opened the list to law enforcement officials and probably would object to this proposal as well, said ACLU lobbyist Sarah Preston.

"What really did concern us is the privacy aspect," she said.

Opening the record to more users could deter someone from getting necessary medicine because of the fear that others would find out, she said, "particularly in small towns where everybody knows everybody."

Narcotics officers said the information would be valuable in identifying people abusing the system. The information could be used in cases in which officers already suspect a problem, they said.

Already this year, the Burke County Narcotics Task Force has worked 156 cases.

“There is going to be a privacy concern in anything you do. But it's the way you use the tools that are given to you,” said Sgt. Rick Hasson, with the Burke County Narcotics Task Force. “If you use it the proper way, there shouldn't be a problem.”