Senator Claire McCaskill (D) will hold a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday in Jefferson City on the fact that Missouri is the only state in the U.S. without a prescription drug monitoring program.
Senator Claire McCaskill
Such programs create a database of prescriptions dispensed in an attempt to catch “doctor shopping,” and prevent the abuse of prescription drugs.
McCaskill says nearly two-thirds of the more than 40,000 drug overdose deaths among Americans last year were related to opioids other than heroin. She is calling Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, “Fighting Against a Growing Epidemic: Reducing the Misuse and Abuse of Opioids in America.”
Speakers will include state representative Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston), who for the past few years has sponsored legislation to create a prescription drug monitoring program in Missouri. That legislation has been opposed in the Senate, primarily by Senator Rob Schaaf (R-St. Joseph), who cites privacy concerns at the idea of a database of Missourian’s prescriptions.
Tuesday’s hearing will be in the Governor’s Office Building, near the Capitol.