Drug Abuse: Drug Monitoring Has Perks Beyond Law Enforcement Uses

Many state legislatures have enacted laws to make it easier for them to establish a prescription database to track drug abuse. These programs are often put in place to assist law enforcement in cracking down on illegal activity such as producing methamphetamine. Clandestine laboratories rely on large amounts of cold medicine to produce their dangerous substances that wreck lives. Most of that activity has been squelched by drug monitoring programs; another advantage to these programs affects more than just law enforcement.

The monitoring programs also help point the way to users who are likely abusing a prescription drug, which can lead interventions that are potentially life saving. These programs, which are now up and running in 44 states, have proven to be an invaluable tool for healthcare providers. They are now able to legally monitor the frequency of prescription drug use among their patients. The drugs being monitored include opioids, amphetamines and sedatives. But laws vary per state and only eight states currently require providers to participate in the monitoring programs.

What is certain is that the states that do allow a monitoring program have less of a problem with the current epidemic of pain killer abuse in this country. While not much is known about how the monitoring programs are affecting the way doctors prescribe their drugs, one study done in Ohio shows that more than 40 percent of emergency room doctors who had access to their patient’s prescription drug history made different prescription decisions based on the data from the monitoring program.

Almost all physicians are pressed for time, which means their ability to thoroughly study the data available to them is hampered. Furthermore, the amount of resources available to healthcare professionals to fully interpret the data providing by monitoring programs is also in short supply, limiting the impact that the data could have on the health of patients across the nation.