Though 41 states have enacted legislation to create databases to combat "pharm-aholics" and other regular seekers of addictive prescription drugs, there still are some major holes in plans to set up a coordinated, national tracking system.

A 2005 federal law called the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (NASPER) has handed out more than $50 million to states to develop programs that help physicians stop such behavior. "Patients moving from one jurisdiction to another [as in cases involving Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland] will typically be able to obtain multiple prescriptions by merely crossing state lines," says a document from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. "The conscious and more prevalent unconscious misuse of Schedule II, II and IV controlled substances, are a national problem that cannot be effectively addressed on a state-by-state basis."

Now, with NASPER soon to be up for reauthorization, those who pushed for the 2005 law are lobbying Congress to help states without drug-tracking databases establish such systems and to standardize programs across state lines. "[States] have a common bond, but we all run our systems a bit differently," Joanee Quirk, head of the Nevada Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, tells Government Technology. Such differences can cause headaches, such as in Vermont, which does not allow outside law enforcement agencies to tap into the state's database.

Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti, CEO of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, says full implementation of a national drug database could be a decade away. However, he is optimistic that incremental gains can help. "We are progressing toward better monitoring and it's becoming more doctor-friendly," Manchikanti says.

To learn more:
- take a look this Government Technology story
- see this NASPER fact sheet from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians
- learn about the Obama administration's 2010 national drug strategy

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