FY2009 Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Planning Project

Since the beginning of FY 2002, Congress has appropriated funding to the U.S. Department of Justice to support the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Prescription drug monitoring programs enhance the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials to collect and analyze controlled substance prescription data through a centralized database administered by an authorized state agency. These programs are designed to help prevent and detect the diversion and abuse of pharmaceutical controlled substances, particularly at the retail level where no other automated information collection system exists.

The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program assists states as they plan, implement, or enhance a PDMP. PDMPs: build a state-level data collection and analysis system to enhance the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials for future prevention efforts; enhance existing programs' abilities to analyze and use collected data to identify drug abuse trends and increase the number of users of the PDMP; facilitate national evaluation efforts to ensure continued support; encourage the exchange of information among states to prevent cross-border diversion; assess the efficiency and effectiveness of programs to ensure continued state-level support; and, enhance collaborations with law enforcement, prosecutors, treatment professionals, the medical community, and pharmacies to establish a comprehensive PDMP strategy.

In South Dakota, local law enforcement, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, health professional licensing agencies, South Dakota Department of Health, and the DEA are responsible for the efforts to reduce the diversion of controlled substances. Currently, manual tabulations of drug profiles and/or prescription records must be performed prior to determining whether further investigation is warranted. The receipt of a planning grant under the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) will allow South Dakota to make site visits to states with operational PDMPs, convene a statewide Task Force, and contract with a health professional to inform and train at meetings held in local communities. These activities will allow for the examination of the problems and lead to a creation of a state plan for establishing a South Dakota PDMP.

CA/NCF