California now has a statewide, web-based tool to track the use of narcotics and other controlled substances, in hopes of preventing duplication of prescriptions that could feed patient addictions. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, midwives and some law-enforcement officials and regulatory boards in the state can register to access the site to view a patient's history of Schedule II, III and IV drug usage, cutting a verification process that used to take a week down to mere seconds. The system already contains more than 100 million prescription records, making it the largest drug monitoring database in the country, according to one California official. FierceHealthcare