Bills could make Missouri the 50th state to enact a prescription drug monitoring program

Two lawmakers have filed bills that would change Missouri's status as the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program.

As she has before, Rep. Holly Rehder, a Sikeston Republican, has filed a bill to establish a PDMP in Missouri. Similar legislation also was filed by Rep.-elect Fred Wessels, a St. Louis Democrat.

Proponents of a PDMP, which would be a database for physicians to monitor prescriptions, say it would allow doctors to be alerted to patients who seek out medications such as pain-killing opioids.

Opponents such as Sen. Rob Schaaf, a St. Joseph Republican, have raised privacy concerns; as he did last year, Schaaf has filed his own version of PDMP legislation.

In Missouri, where overdoses on opioids and heroin increased 44 percent from 2006 to 2014, pharmaceutical interests have spent $1.9 million in campaign contributions and lobbyist expenses in the past decade. Painkiller prescriptions have fallen recently, but there were still about 5.2 million opioid prescriptions written in Missouri in 2015, according to previous News-Leader reporting.

The other 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and Guam have PDMP programs, according to the PDMP Training and Technical Assistance Center.