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DEA must get a warrant before accessing prescription database
DEA must get a warrant before accessing prescription databasePORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge in Portland ruled Tuesday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency must get a warrant before accessing Oregon's pharmaceutical-monitoring database.
The state created the Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to track prescriptions and help health-care providers identify abuse. But federal agents want information from the database to help with their drug investigations.
State law said police needed a court order to check the database. But the DEA asserted that federal law allowed the agency to access the information using what is known as an administrative subpoena, which does not involve a judge or require the government to show probable cause.
The state sued in 2012 and was joined by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"Although there is not an absolute right to privacy in prescription information, as patients must expect that physicians, pharmacists and other medical personnel can and must access their records, it is more than reasonable for patients to believe that law enforcement agencies will not have unfettered access to their records," U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty wrote in his 16-page opinion.
The state created the Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to track prescriptions and help health-care providers identify abuse. But federal agents want information from the database to help with their drug investigations.
State law said police needed a court order to check the database. But the DEA asserted that federal law allowed the agency to access the information using what is known as an administrative subpoena, which does not involve a judge or require the government to show probable cause.
The state sued in 2012 and was joined by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"Although there is not an absolute right to privacy in prescription information, as patients must expect that physicians, pharmacists and other medical personnel can and must access their records, it is more than reasonable for patients to believe that law enforcement agencies will not have unfettered access to their records," U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty wrote in his 16-page opinion.
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