Gotta love all these little "Wars" we have going. Here's one from the "War On Drugs"

[b]Feds track patients' drug use
Police keep list of who gets painkillers and other addictive medications

By R. Joseph Gelarden / Indianapolis Star


Tim Halcomb / Gannett News Service

Information about drugs such as Vicodin, among the prescriptions tracked by police, is shared with drug enforcement agencies.



 
  WASHINGTON -- In 17 states, including Michigan, police keep lists of everyone who buys high-powered painkillers and other potentially addictive drugs prescribed by doctors.
  They collect the information with the permission of a little-known law that requires pharmacists to send them patients' names, the drug they are taking, the name of their doctors and even the number of pills they receive.
  This means that whenever you have a prescription filled for Schedule II drugs, such as Percodan, Vicodin or Lorcet -- and in some states Schedule III drugs such as anabolic steroids or Ketamine, or familiar Schedule IV drugs like Xanax, Valium, or the "date rape" drug Rohypnol, plus needles and syringes -- a record with your name on it is created and shared with a number of agencies.
  It is all part of a computerized electronic tracking system used by the states in a federal program to help police and medical licensing agencies bust prescription drug abuses.
  Schedule II drugs also include familiar painkillers such as Demerol, Percocet and the powerful OxyContin; street drugs such as cocaine and meth; and even Ritalin.
  Nationally, the program is called the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. California was the first state to implement the program, in 1940; Kentucky was the most recent to join, in 1999. Police say the program is one of the key tools used to catch drug abusers and the doctors and pharmacists who provide the drugs.
  In Indiana, the program is being used in the Drug Enforcement Administration's ongoing investigation of local physicians and pharmacies suspected of providing excessive prescriptions for painkillers. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay and a handful of his associates are expected to be questioned in the investigation -- even though the National Football League and Irsay's lawyer said they don't believe the team's owner is a target. Irsay has said he sought treatment for addiction to prescription painkillers.
  John Krull, Indiana Civil Liberties Union executive director, said the system could put citizens' privacy at risk.
  "Anytime people's privacy is violated, especially on a systemic basis, it is a concern," he said. "What if you are battling cancer and have beaten the odds and survived, but are in constant pain? Does your legitimate use of painkillers cause you to become the object of an investigation? In a free society, government should be accountable to the citizenry. More and more, the citizen is being held accountable to the government."
  Les Miller, special counsel for Indiana State Police Superintendent Mel Carraway, said the monitoring program helps stop prescription drug abuse. "We need a means of tracking prescriptions for Schedule II drugs because they are subject to abuse," he said. "We could use it to build a case, to look at trends, to catch information about a doctor, a pharmacy or an individual. [blue]It is another piece of information that goes into the mix."
  The information collected in the database includes:
The patient's name.
His or her date of birth.
Date the drug is dispensed.
Quantity of the drug.
Number of days supply dispensed.
Whether the prescription was phoned in or presented in writing.[/blue]
  The law allows public access to statistical reports only.
  A Web site for the Diversion Control Program (www.deadiversion .usdoj.gov), of which the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is a part, is packed with information about national and local cases, though names of suspected drug abusers are not included. (Investigators can track a case if needed.)
  In one report on the site, the DEA reported that one Indiana woman was so addicted to hydrocodone (codeine) that she had all her teeth pulled just so she could get prescriptions filled at different Indiana pharmacies.
  In another case, troopers found one patient was receiving 2,500 doses of a high-powered painkiller per month from one doctor. Before the case was completed, the drug abuser was killed.

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[url]http://www.detnews.com/2002/health/0211/29/a08-22911.htm[/url]

Yeah, this country has become a first class police state.  

Why can't you all just understand it's all done for our own good !! The feds are only trying to help, so lets get behind any rights infringement program needed.

This is one case where I think there's some public good in what they're doing.

I know of a few cases where people have really gone to shit on this stuff.  If you're concerned about getting your door kicked down, I think you can relax a little.  There are so many big cases and they soak up so much time, I bet they only have time for the worst abusers, unless someone barely on the radar attracts their interest for some other reason and they need something to pop them for......[>:/]

It's called a [b]controlled[/b] substance. One of those controls is keeping track of who has it.

As G. Gordon Liddy noted, "When I Was a Kid This Was a Free Country."

Not too surprising.

I don't mean to hijack this thread...

But where can I get one of those,"Don't tread on me" flags?

When G. Gordon Liddy was a kid, opiates were a controlled substance, too.....

Scott

In the 20's we had a war on drugs. Coke was coming in from Nicaragua, and Teddy sent in the Marines, kicked there ass and gave their country back and said, "If you do this again, we will be back". That is the way to fight the "war on drugs".

America could not stomach such a war today, so we just infringe on our own citizens rights.

I would say the way we are fighting this "war on drugs", is really a war on freedom.

At one time I was involved with some cases like this. All of these people were involved in a bad accident/serious injury of some kind.

Guess who got them addicted to the stuff?? The Doctors, of course. Then the Docs cut them off saying "I can't give you any more or the DEA will get me". Then they go from Doc to Doc looking for both real pain relief and the drugs they are addicted to. Most (if not all) of these people had no criminal record of any type prior to sustaining their injuries.
Something is amiss in the medical/leo community. Once these people get arrested and convicted on felony drug charges, they go right to prison (here anyway) instead of a treatment program. Maybe they should make the Doctors serve time with the patients they addicted and abandoned.

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Silly me. And here I thought it was [b]controlled[/b] by making your doctor prescribe it. But hey, registering gun owners is ok too, right? They would [b]never[/b] decide to misuse that information either, [b]right?!?!?[/b]

Hey Waldo, I like your idea. I know at least two people that have the doctor supplied drug problem. I'd rather see the doc spend the time.

A side note to this is, I'd like the liberals to put signs in their front yards, on their car, and, anywhere else thay can stating they are against self defense, the death penalty, and, believe that the criminal is really the victim. I believe there at least a handfull of judges, and a TON of attorneys that should post these signs too. At least then, I wouldn't have to worry about my family so much.

There should be a law where anyone who is dying of cancer, and there is no hope for recovery, should get whatever they want to make them comfortable. Who gives a shit if you're addicted to oxycontin if you're going to die in a couple of months?

It did'nt stop my sister from going to four different doctors for the same morphine deriv perscription.