Post by Logan on Feb 17, 2016 3:15:31 GMT -6
McCaskill, St. Louis County take aim at absence of prescription data base
CLAYTON • U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri aligned Tuesday with St. Louis County in taking aim at the only state in the union without a comprehensive database to track the distribution of the physician-prescribed opioids that experts say are the entry point to heroin abuse: Missouri.
A news conference in Clayton to introduce legislation that would establish a database to monitor the dispensing of OxyContin and other prescription painkillers at St. Louis County pharmacies was quickly followed by a late-morning roundtable meeting McCaskill convened to address the issue.
At the earlier event, a briefing attended by county health officials, physicians and officials with alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs, County Executive Steve Stenger said the legislation “would establish in St. Louis County the same type of prescription drug database that, with one exception, is required in every state in our nation.”
“That lone exception is our own state of Missouri, where prescription opioid misuse — and the heroin abuse it leads to — have become epidemic. Missouri’s failure to properly monitor such prescriptions has led to our state’s macabre designation as the top tourist destination for pill shoppers from across the nation,” Stenger said.
Read more: www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mccaskill-st-louis-county-take-aim-at-absence-of-prescription/article_4f08bba5-7436-55c9-97f8-2469bb1cba21.html
CLAYTON • U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri aligned Tuesday with St. Louis County in taking aim at the only state in the union without a comprehensive database to track the distribution of the physician-prescribed opioids that experts say are the entry point to heroin abuse: Missouri.
A news conference in Clayton to introduce legislation that would establish a database to monitor the dispensing of OxyContin and other prescription painkillers at St. Louis County pharmacies was quickly followed by a late-morning roundtable meeting McCaskill convened to address the issue.
At the earlier event, a briefing attended by county health officials, physicians and officials with alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs, County Executive Steve Stenger said the legislation “would establish in St. Louis County the same type of prescription drug database that, with one exception, is required in every state in our nation.”
“That lone exception is our own state of Missouri, where prescription opioid misuse — and the heroin abuse it leads to — have become epidemic. Missouri’s failure to properly monitor such prescriptions has led to our state’s macabre designation as the top tourist destination for pill shoppers from across the nation,” Stenger said.
Read more: www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mccaskill-st-louis-county-take-aim-at-absence-of-prescription/article_4f08bba5-7436-55c9-97f8-2469bb1cba21.html