Lately in the news, there has been a lot of stories about people buying and selling prescription narcotics or pain medications on the streets. Prescription medications are becoming more of a problem and with the exception of alcohol, prescription drugs are the second most commonly abused substance. In January, the state of Minnesota enacted the Prescription Monitoring Program. This program is designed to monitor the prescribing and disbursement of prescription drugs designated as controlled substances by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). This program will stop patients from using several physicians to get their controlled medications. Several other states already have a prescription monitoring program. Studies have shown that these states have a lower incidence of hospital admissions due to drug abuse. Hopefully we will see the same affect in our state.
