Beshear OKs prescription bill, telling pill mills, 'Get out of this state'

Saying it couldn't get to his desk quickly enough, Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse in celebration today, warning so-called pill mills to "Get out of this state, because we're coming after you."

House Bill 1 requires doctors and pharmacists who prescribe or dispense Schedule II and III drugs, such as oxycodone and morphine, to use the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system and requires pain clinics to be owned by at least one physician. Clinics already in operation that have not had trouble with the law but are not owned by doctors will be grandfathered in under the law.

Though there was a strong push for it by law enforcement, the bill will not move KASPER over to the attorney general's office but will stay under the control of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the doctor-controlled Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who sponsored the bill, called the legislation "a major step forward in the ongoing battle to put the brakes on prescription drug abuse."

Though KASPER will not move to  Attorney General Jack Conway's office, as Conway wanted, he endorsed the effort. "It helps keep entrepreneurs out of the pill mill business and requires doctors, with reasonable exceptions, to use the KASPER system," he said. "I encourage those who are fearful of increased oversight to end the hyperbole and begin a constructive process with the legislature and executive branch to implement this bill." (Read more)

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