In 2003, Bob Pack’s son and daughter were killed by a driver who was abusing prescription drugs. Pack started looking into the issue of prescription drug abuse, and launched a foundation named for his children.
He wound up offering to raise over $3 million to fund a state database that would allow California doctors and pharmacists to see if patients are “doctor shopping” to get prescriptions for drugs of choice. Yesterday, California Attorney General Gerry Brown took Pack up on his offer.
The existing database has millions of entries for commonly abused drugs such as Vicodin, and receives 60,000 queries a year, the statement said. But responses come by phone or fax, and can take days. Pack, who worked with Kaiser Permanente on a feasibility study, told the Los Angeles Times that the online database could be up and running in 10 months, and offer instant results.
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