State would keep list of controlled substance users under bill

[Judi Lynn]

Published Wednesday, April 14, 2004

State would keep list of controlled substance users under bill

By DAVID ROYSE
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

State government would create a database of everyone in Florida who gets a prescription of certain controlled substances, under a measure approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday.

The measure, aimed at saving lives and fighting fraud and backed by Gov. Jeb Bush, passed over the objections of a few who said it could violate people's privacy.

Supporters say the sometimes deadly abuse of addictive prescription drugs is fast becoming an epidemic, and they cite a desperate need to slow the spiraling costs of government health care programs beset by fraud.

Prescription drug abuse now kills more people than murders in Florida, said bill sponsor Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, and more people die overdosing on legal drugs than heroin.
(snip/...)

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040414/APN/404140908

[jamesinca]

1. Florida is in pretty good shape if this is the case

Prescription drug abuse now kills more people than murders in Florida, said bill sponsor Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, and more people die overdosing on legal drugs than heroin.

[DoNotRefill]

2. I'm wondering if they include overdoses....

caused by improper med orders by doctors in that figure.

If they do, it's certainly likely that more people die accidentally from prescription drugs than by criminal acts. Medicine isn't an exact science, and doctors kill hundreds of thousands of patients every year in the US through misdiagnosis and improper perscriptions, far more than we lose every year due to homicides, suicides, and automobile accidents combined.

It's not that Florida is in such good shape homicide-wise (though they're in much better shape since they went to shall-issue CCW and mandatory sentences for use of a gun to commit a crime), it's that doctors kill a shitload of people every year through misadventure. It's not intentional, but Doctors are human, too, and when they f*ck up, people regularly die because of it.

[colonel odis]

3. would nicole bush be on that list?

no, wait. she only uses forged prescriptions to get her drugs.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Important distinction! n/t

[saigon68]

5. The privileged class always SKATES

Rule # 1 of Criiminal Law 101 as taught in Law Schools.