A prescription-monitoring program is required in all states by federal law, but the intent of the law is to allow doctors and pharmacies to know if prescription medications are being abused.
The database is mandated by federal law through the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration.
The intent of the federal mandate is to monitor the distribution for illicit sale and abuse of regulated drugs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Web site at
www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/prog_dscrpt/index.html
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/faq/rx_monitor.htm#1
That's how the commitees to congress work.
A vital part of the legislative process, both in the US Congress and in the state legislatures, is the committee system. When a bill is introduced in a legislature, it is referred to a committee of that house, where the members of that committee and of sub-committees working under it will consider the bill and what action to take on it. The names of the committees indicate the sort of legislation that each committee deals with; Agriculture, Judiciary, Armed Services, and Appropriations are examples. Each committee will hold public hearings on a bill that has been referred to it, will consider amendments to the bill, and ultimately will decide whether to recommend to the House (or Senate) that members vote Yes or No on the bill or, the committee may be able to stall action on the bill and "pigeonhole" it. or adding two bills into one to get one passed so that both houses would agree, a compromise bill.
As of November 2008, 38 states had enacted legislation that required prescription drug monitoring programs: 32 of those programs are currently operating and 6 are in the start-up phase.
The 32 states that have operational PDMPs (capacity to receive and distribute PDMP information to authorized users) are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The 6 states that have legislation in place but are not yet operational are: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont. Currently, the state of Washington uses their program only for disciplinary purposes, however legislation has been introduced to expand the program statewide.
Eleven states are in the process of proposing, preparing, or considering legislation. These states include Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and South Dakota.