By Amy McCullough
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Filling multiple prescriptions from different doctors is a growing worry in Ohio and surrounding states, law enforcement officials say.

Ohio uses an outdated system to track potential drug abusers, but Rep. Tom Raga, R-Mason, says a bill that he introduced will help stop "doctor shopping'' by giving law enforcement officers more efficient tracking tools.

The bill passed in the House 71-24 last week, and now goes to the Senate. If it passes, the bill would establish a drug database system run by the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy.

"They (pharmacists) were alarmed at the dramatic increase in prescription drug abuse that was making its way across the border into Ohio and requested our assistance in creating a program for Ohio," Raga said.

Prescription drug abuse continues to rise, and is second only to marijuana, according to the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.

Under Ohio's current system, investigators are forced to send a fax to different pharmacies throughout the state requesting an individual's prescription history. The process can take up to a month before investigators have access to the information.

Even then the list is not complete, said Cmdr. John Burke of the Warren-Clinton Drug Task Force.

"You can't go on a fishing expedition," Burke said. "The information we are going to access is information we have access to now under Ohio law. Only it will allow us to get the information much more efficiently and accurately."

Under the bill, the database would be modeled after a system in Kentucky, which takes about 20 minutes to review a customer's history.

Only people filling prescriptions that are typically abused will be entered into the database, making up a "small fraction" of the population, said Bill Winsley, the executive director of the Ohio Pharmacy Board.

Addictive pain medications such as OxyContin are targeted by doctor shoppers because of their street value.

Regina Zimmerman, an investigator for the Cincinnati police, said she cracked a case involving two individuals who purchased and sold about $16,000 worth of OxyContin over an eight-month period.

Several lawmakers expressed concerns about privacy. Rep. Shirley Smith, D-Cleveland, called the database a "direct infringement of our privacy rights as citizens."

However, proponents say the bill does not record any new patient information, but provides a more efficient way to track existing records. Nearly 80 percent of Kentucky's requests comes from physicians who are leery about prescribing pain medication. With the database, doctors would be able to differentiate between "legitimate" patients and those trying to take advantage of the system, Winsley said.

"Right now doctors have to use a judgment call and a lot are uncomfortable," Winsley said.

Most of the debate stems from the $1.8 million required to establish the database. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, said the House needs to be more "fiscally responsible," and urged representatives to vote against the bill until a specific payment route can be established.

The Pharmacy Board will be responsible for funding the program, but Raga said $350,000 in federal money could be available.

"If they are unable to get money they will not be able to operate the program," he said. "It forces them to create the most fiscally sound program."

E-mail amccullough@enquirer.com