New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is pushing for a central database to track commonly abused prescription drugs such as stimulants, painkillers and muscle relaxants.
With drug abuse deaths surpassing traffic accident deaths for the last two years, Ayotte is calling for a database so doctors and pharmacists could check whether someone has already obtained a prescription elsewhere. The goal is to stop people from hitting several doctors’ offices with false symptoms in order to get drugs.
New Hampshire lawmakers have rejected several attempts to create such a database, citing privacy concerns. But Ayotte says it’s a public health issue. She talked about the issue at a law enforcement meeting earlier this month and at an executive council meeting last week.