The California Attorney General's Office announced a new program Wednesday to track prescription drug use and abuse. From Sacramento, Kelley Weiss reports.
Attorney General Jerry Brown says the internet based system will give doctors and pharmacists immediate access to patient's prescription drug history.
Brown: "With this online database doctors and pharmacists will be able within eight seconds to identify abusers of controlled substances."
Brown says right now it can take several days for doctors to access prescription drug records. He says with that much delay it's easy for drug abusers to 'doctor shop' and fill multiple orders for Vicodin or Xanax. The database will cost more than $3 million over the next few years. Brown says funding is coming from the state and private investors like Kaiser Permanente. In Sacramento, I'm Kelley Weiss.
