Commission Adopts Prescription Drug Monitoring Ordinance

Crawford County commissioners on Tuesday voted to adopt an ordinance that connects the county to the St. Louis County Health Department’s prescription drug monitoring program.

All three commissioners were in favor of the ordinance, which will take around three months to implement.

There were some minor revisions made by Crawford County Health Department Director Honor Evans, but nothing that changed the scope of the ordinance.

Crawford County joins Franklin, Gasconade and Iron counties as adjoining counties that have become part of the PDMP. More than 50 counties and municipalities have joined.

The purpose of the PDMP is to reduce prescription drugs from being over-prescribed, which leads to narcotics becoming more readily available. 

The St. Louis County Health Department has reported that 85 percent of opioid prescriptions come from hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol.

Evans told commissioners in June that when a doctor prescribes a drug and the dispenser fills it, the history will be tracked in a database. 

An alert is triggered when a patient obtains a controlled substance written by three or more prescribers and filled at three or more pharmacies within a six-month period. 

Doctors and pharmacists are the only users allowed access to the database. Subpoenas must be obtained by state boards, law enforcement, Missouri HealthNet and judicial officers to receive access.

Evans told commissioners that St. Louis County does most of the work — reaching out to pharmacies and maintaining the database. After speaking to pharmacists throughout the county, she said they were on board and pleased the county was going forward with a PDMP.