ATLANTA (April 14, 2011) – State Sen. Buddy Carter (R-Pooler) released the following statement Thursday after the Georgia General Assembly approved the Patient Safety Act of 2011 (Senate Bill 36). Carter authored SB 36, a bill that aims to help Georgia doctors and pharmacists curtail prescription drug abuse in the state. The Act would create an electronic database of all controlled substances dispensed in Georgia pharmacies over a one-year period.
“Today we can finally say that Georgia will no longer be a safe haven for illegal “pill mills” and controlled prescription abuse. Almost every other state in the nation already has some sort of monitoring system in place to track potential controlled substance prescription abuse. Every state surrounding Georgia has electronic databases that can identify and stop illegal activity concerning controlled substances, making our state a prime location for this epidemic to rise. In 2008 alone, out of the 640 drug overdose deaths in Georgia, 540 involved legal prescriptions.”
With the passage of the Patient Safety Act, doctors and pharmacists around the state now will have the right tools to effectively crack down on prescription drug abuse in our state, prevent illegal activity, and most importantly help save lives. I want to thank the General Assembly for their support of this important and long-overdue legislation and I now look forward to working with Governor Deal to get the Patient Safety Act signed into law.”
– Sen. Buddy Carter.
Final changes include measures that restrict other states’ access to Georgia’s database, moving the database to one year of prescription records, increasing identification requirements for persons retrieving prescriptions for other patients, and making sure all Schedule II drug prescriptions are placed on security prescription paper.
SB 36 now heads to Governor Deal for his signature.
For more information on the Patient Safety Act, please follow the YouTube link below for Carter’s video presentation on SB36.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gBRnjUem1s
Sen. Buddy Carter serves as Chairman of the Senate State Institutions & Property Committee. He represents the 1st Senate District. He represents Bryan County and portions of Chatham and Liberty counties. He may be reached at 404.656.5109 or via e-mail at buddy.carter@senate.ga.gov.
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
April 14, 2011
For Information Contact:
Matt Colvin, Broadcast Director
matthew.colvin@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028