Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Will Be An Issue Again In Legislature

(Columbia, MO) — State Republican Representative Holly Rehder says Missouri is the only state in the country without a prescription drug monitoring program and she plans to pre-file a bill again in December that would create one. Rehder says developing such a system is a nonpartisan issue — but some have tried to make it partisan and have scared people about it. Republican State Senator Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, who is a family physician, threatened to block Rehder’s legislation this year over privacy concerns. He filed his own bill last year and reportedly will file similar legislation again for next year’s session. The Missouri House approved Rehder’s bill this year by an 87 to 66 vote, but it ran into a threatened Senate filibuster from Schaaf because of his privacy concerns. Schaaf’s bill was heard in a Senate committee this year, but never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.

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