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NC: Sheriffs want lists of patients using painkillers

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Sheriffs want lists of patients using painkillers September 8, 2010 BY LYNN BONNER - staff writer News and Observer Sheriffs in North Carolina want access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances. The state sheriff's association pushed the idea Tuesday, saying the move would help them make drug arrests and curb a growing problem of prescription drug abuse. But patient advocates say opening up people's medicine cabinets to law enforcement would deal a devastating blow to privacy rights. Allowing sheriffs' offices and other law enforcement officials to use the state's computerized list would vastly widen the circle of people with access to information on prescriptions written for millions of people...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on September 23, 2010 (boomark / email).