Oxycontin News Blog

BOSTON -- The prescription pad at your doctor's office might soon take on characteristics of the dollar bill in your wallet.

To foil those who would steal and reproduce the pads to illegally distribute drugs, watermarks and serial numbers could be imbedded in what's now only a tear-off sheet of paper.

It's part of a plan launched this week by Rep. Tom Golden, a Lowell Democrat, to combat the abuse of dangerously addictive prescription drugs like OxyContin.

The new prescription pads would still require a doctor's signature and would include the doctor's federal identification number.

They would cost more to produce than the current forms, but it's a small price to pay compared to the financial and emotional toll addiction can take, Golden said.

OxyContin currently sells for $1 per milligram on the street, meaning the largest dosage made -- 80 milligrams -- sells for $80 per pill.

The legislation would also have the State Police keep an eye on drug transactions, from the moment a doctor signs a prescription pad to the time the patient purchases the drug at the pharmacy.

This legislation would also route those reports to the State Police, authorizing them to run queries on that information -- in other words, look for patterns of frequent purchasing and potential abuse -- instead of waiting for the complaint to come to them.

The bill will include an undetermined amount of money to pay for extra police staffing to get the job done.

A similar program has saved money in New York, Golden added. People who steal prescription pads often pay for those fraudulent prescriptions with Medicaid coverage -- a significant, illegal cost to the state.

“When people are stealing ‘scripts, they pass it through their insurance companies, which is fraudulent in itself,” he said.

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