ADHDFamilies

It looks like big brother is at it again. According to Amy Morton, who runs a blog called “Georgia Women Vote!”, the Georgia state senate has an important and slightly disturbing decision to make. In her post titled “I’m Not So Sure About This“, Amy details a new bill that, if ratified, will require pharmacies to disclose a list of all prescriptions of any Schedule II, III or IV drug to a state-wide permanent law enforcement database.

The bill, titled the Georgia Prescription Monitoring Program Act, at its core is:

…intended to improve the state´s ability to identify and stop diversion of prescription drugs in an efficient and cost-effective manner that will not impede the appropriate medical utilization of licit controlled substances or other licit drugs with potential for abuse while minimizing impact on pharmacy operations.

While this sounds quite benign in overview, I have concerns over both he amount of information collected and who might have access to this information. From what I can gather from the bill itself, the state of Georgia is trying diligently to make sure that only persons who are in real need of this information can get at it, but I’m not sure if that means that they will be logging each and every access to the information, which is a must in my opinion.

The state is also allowing access by anyone who happens to be on the list as well, which seems only fair enough. I know that If I had a question about what medications I had been prescribed were being collected, I would be outraged if I was denied the right to look that information up.

Overall the state of Georgia seems to be implementing every safeguard in its power, but somewhere in the back of my mind I’m still uncomfortable with the idea. If this information were to fall into the wrong hands or even entered into the database incorrectly, someone’s life could be devastated as a result. The following legal backlash could cost the state as well, in numbers that would shock and amaze, I’m certain of that.

In any case, it appears that the state is going through with this act. If so, you may expect to see similar acts passed in your state as well. The only thing I know for sure is that I hope Big Brother really does keep the best interests of his little brothers and sisters in mind this time.