-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Florida to track [legal] drug users Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 17:38:27 -0400 From: Stephen Cobb <editor@private> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> References: <407CD237.3020003@private> Declan My wife already lives in almost constant pain because, thanks to the DoJ, most Florida doctors are too scared to prescribe adequate pain medication. Now it seems that, thanks to an unholy alliance of Jeb Bush, John Ashcroft, and a big drug company, her use of medication will be tracked by the State police. Stephen Cobb State would keep list of controlled substance users under bill By David Royse, Associated Press, April 15, 2004 http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/article/0,2071,NPDN_14910_2809288,00.html TALLAHASSEE State government would create a database of everyone in Florida who gets a prescription of certain controlled substances, under a measure approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday. The measure, aimed at saving lives [of selfish law-breakers who abuse prescription drugs] and fighting fraud and backed by Gov. Jeb Bush [who seems to have forgotten that Republicans are supposed to be in favor of less government intrusion], passed over the objections of a few who said it could violate people's privacy. Supporters say the sometimes deadly abuse of addictive prescription drugs [by law-breaking idiots] is fast becoming an epidemic, and they cite a desperate need to slow the spiraling costs of government health care programs beset by fraud [I dare them to prove pain pills are a significant factor in health care costs]. ... Some lawmakers opposed the (CS HB 397) because it may give government another way to track what people do and because medications can be a very private matter. Rep. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, likened it to Communist practices in Cuba. "My parents fled a Communist country because everything was being centralized," Garcia said. "A centralized database, knowing what they're taking, what they're not taking, is a little concerning to me." ... The database would only keep track of people who get prescriptions for certain controlled substances, including narcotics like pain relievers oxycodone or Percocet, or the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. Children under 16 would not be included in the database [the same legislature that is pushing parental notification of minor abortions wants to exempt a key group of drug abusers?]. The U.S. Department of Justice, which is pushing such databases nationwide, would also help fund the database startup [as part of the ever-expanding DoJ monitoring of our private lives--how long before the drug data gets into CAPS II?] as would [and this is just as scary] Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin that has pledged $2 million toward the program an offer that expires in July. The pledge was made in November 2002 when the state dropped an investigation into how the company marketed OxyContin. ...... _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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