Bush signs bill creating electronic prescription monitoring

The new law creates a grant program for states to create databases and enhance existing ones in hopes of ending the practice of "doctor shopping" by drug abusers seeking multiple prescriptions.

This directly conflicts with George Bush's 'freedom' rhetoric. Mr President, freedom and liberty isn't just about living without capital tyranny. The little tyrannies matter, too.

How long before this government intrusion is used for something other than its stated purpose?

"This bill lacks fundamental privacy protections, such as notifying patients if their information has been lost or stolen," said Democratic Rep. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, whose amendment to add that notification to the bill was defeated in committee. "The lack of such safeguards virtually guarantees that this well-meaning effort to combat drug abuse will become a scandalous invasion of the privacy of innocent bystanders."

While standards and penalities for misuse of information are in supposedly a part of this bill, once the data has been misused, a penalty on the abuser doesn't undo the damage.

I personally know of 3 vets (who I didn't seek out) who are given and who sell pills from BIG bottles of prescription pain meds they get from the VA!

A July letter from the American Medical Association in support of the bill called prescription drug abuse "one of the fastest growing public health problems" in the United States. The letter cited a 2002 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey that estimated there were 6.2 million recreational prescription drugs users then.

6.2 million users out of 300+ million people! So 2% of the population requires the government track the other 98%. How's that for tricky logic? All in the name of the 'common good'.

For my left-leaning fellow citizens, when your first instinct in solving social problems is a government program (and the subsequent government control, in the form of taxation and dependency), do you have any room to complain about this violation of privacy by the state?

UPDATE: Okay, it's a valid reason to extremely dislike Bush - and Republicans, not HATE!

Also, Radley Balko, in The Suveillance State Grows, notes in conclusion:

Nevertheless, the bill passed by voice vote in the House, and by unanimous consent in the Senate. Your state government (and, inevitably, the federal government) will soon be able to monitor what medications you're taking. And the bill became law with barely a whimper of protest.

Yeah, that's because the mainstream media outlets are obsessed with missing girls in Aruba and white Broncos.

Name:

Email:

URL:

Remember me?
YesNo

Comments: