Missouri is the only state not to monitor prescriptions. A bill to change that passed

Missouri may soon become the last state in the nation to create a statewide prescription drug monitoring program after eight years of failed attempts.

Lawmakers on Tuesday sent a bill to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk to create a system that allows doctors and pharmacists to track opioid prescriptions in an effort to prevent abuse. Parson has been supportive of the program, which is in place in all 49 other states.

It passed the House 91 to 64 after clearing the Senate, a traditional roadblock for the measure, earlier this year.

“We’re 20 years later in this epidemic,” said bill sponsor Sen. Holly Rehder, a Sikeston Republican who has been open about her family’s experiences with opioid addiction. “Now that we know these narcotics are more addicting for some people than for others, now that we know these things, to allow our physicians and medical professionals to have more information, it’s just really important to turn this epidemic around.”

In the absence of a statewide program, many counties have opted into a PDMP operated by St. Louis County that now covers more than 80% of Missouri’s population. The statewide program would replace it and the bill includes provisions to clear the database every three years.

Attempts to pass a PDMP have run into repeated opposition among conservative Republicans, who have objected to the collection of personal prescription information on privacy grounds. The bill restricts police access to the database, and prohibits law enforcement from using it to prevent someone from owning a gun.

That did not assuage Rep. Justin Hill, a Lake St. Louis Republican, who said being stopped at a pharmacy would only drive someone abusing pills to turn to the black market, and promised to file a bill next year to undo the program.

“We have no business getting into the affairs of your family’s medical issues,” he said. “You want them to abuse pills rather than abusing heroin.”

Rehder objected to that characterization.

“It allows [nurses and doctors] to see concerning trends and help that patient turn that corner onto what will be helpful so that they don’t go down the long road to addiction,” she said.

The bill would create a state task force to oversee the program’s creation, comprised of professionals from the medical, pharmacist, nursing and dental fields. Pharmacists report into the database when they dispense prescription drugs to patients. Other pharmacists, doctors and health care providers could request access to see their patients’ prescription history.