By Ashley Speagle
Correspondent
ATLANTA -- Georgia state senators are both supportive and concerned about a bill that would create a statewide electronic database to track prescription drug sales.
PDF: Drug monitoring bill
"We need this because we've got an epidemic in the state of Georgia right now," Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, said. "Over 30 percent of all drug abuse in the U.S. is prescription drug abuse."
Under Sen. Carter's bill, the Georgia Narcotics Drug Agency would administer an electronic database to help law enforcement track prescription drug abuse and trafficking across the state.
"Pill rings" -- people who drive from pharmacy to pharmacy with fake prescriptions -- will "start in North Cobb, go all the way up through Rome and all the way across to Athens and, in one night, they hit 10, 11, 12 pharmacies," said Jason Saliba, with the Cobb Judicial Circuit.
Then there are "smurfers" who drive from drugstore to drugstore, buying cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient in methamphetamine.
Georgia law limits the amount of pseudoephedrine that can be purchased, and buyers must sign their names to logs in each store. But state law officers say that because there's no computer database, the only way to track such buyers is by going from store to store.
Sen. Carter said the database would be covered by federal grants, costing the state nothing, and the bill would not expand access authorities already have to this information.
However, lawmakers were concerned about some details.
Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, said that if federal grants to fund the database fell through, the law still would require pharmacists somehow to submit the information and the state to cover the costs.
"It appears to me you've established a statutory mandate for the program and nowhere does it say 'subject to appropriation,'" said Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome. "If this goes into effect in July, then the state would have to pay for it."
Under the law, pharmacists who forget to submit information may be liable for a $1,000 fine and/or 12 months in prison. Sen. John Wiles, R-Marietta, said the penalties may be too harsh.
"Do you really want to put somebody in jail who forgot to do it?" he asked.
Another major concern is how much protection patients' identities would have under the bill, which allows many individuals access to the information.
"There isn't a mechanism to protect the patients' rights," said Sen. Hill. "Information about the person's identity, their names, can be given to attorneys without subpoenas."
Rep. Jay Neal, R-LaFayette, supports the electronic database and said it probably would secure information better than the paper logs now used.
ABOUT THE BILLSenate Bill 418 directs the state Drugs and Narcotics Agency to establish an electronic database to review dispensed prescriptions for controlled substances. Anyone who fails to submit information or submits false information could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor.
"If we had an electronic database accessible, there would be more security to your purchasing habits, for those who are safely purchasing pseudoephedrine, than a log book sitting beside the cash register," he said.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee put the bill into subcommittee to address the concerns.
"In putting it in subcommittee, I want it to come out as soon as possible so that we have time to get it through," said Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, the committee chairman.
Ashley Speagle covers the Georgia Legislature. Contact her at speagle.ashley@gmail.com.