Nov 2, 2014 1 min read

I am writing in regards to the article, “Bill to prevent drug addicts from ‘doctor shopping’ sent to governor,” which appeared in the Oct. 18 edition.

Due to Pennsylvania’s growing heroin problem, new legislation would establish a database to monitor prescription narcotics. The goal of this program would be to prevent people from going to different physicians in order to obtain prescription drugs.

I believe that this bill would not help Pennsylvania’s current heroin epidemic and could potentially make it worse. This bill is going to make getting opioid prescription medications more difficult. Doctors may become hesitant to prescribe narcotics. Those who are dependent on prescription medications may begin using heroin, because they can no longer obtain their prescriptions. They may also turn to illegal methods to obtain narcotics.

I believe legislators could better spend their time and money focusing on quality treatment programs to fight this epidemic. The epidemic is already occurring, so legislation that is based in prevention has arrived too late.

Laura Schwimer

Venetia