KHI News Service
TOPEKA, April 9 Gov. Kathleen Sebelius today signed a bill forming the Controlled Substances Monitoring Task Force to track the purchase of prescription drugs.
“Modern medicines can treat an array of conditions, but there are some people who might abuse these drugs, inflicting a far more serious disease upon themselves – addiction,” Sebelius said. “This task force will look at ways to monitor and prevent prescription drug abuse.”
Senate Bill 302, establishes an 11-member task force to develop a plan a controlled substances prescription monitoring program and an electronic purchase log. The electronic purchase log would allow real-time compliance checks with all state, federal and local laws concerning the sale of certain narcotics, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. The task force will report its findings and conclusions to the Legislature on or before Jan. 14, 2008.
Members of the task force will include the attorney general, or his designee, one member appointed by the Kansas Health Policy Authority, one member appointed by the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, two members appointed by the Board of Pharmacy, one member appointed by the Board of Healing Arts, one member appointed by the Kansas Medical Society, one member appointed by the Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine, one member appointed by the Kansas Pharmacists” Association, one member appointed by the Kansas State Dental Association, and one member appointed by the Kansas Hospital Association.
SB 302 was one of 14 bills signed Monday by Sebelius, who has inked 97 bills during the 2007 legislative session and vetoed one.