Guest column: Prescription drug monitoring necessary for Missouri

This week, state Rep. Kevin Engler's bill for prescription drug monitoring came to the floor for debate and a vote. If passed, this bill would allow Missouri to have a drug monitoring program so that we can start catching, and prosecuting, the folks who go to multiple doctors for pain prescriptions, fill them and then sell them.

Missouri is the only state that does not have this program.

One senator, who is a doctor, has used his right to filibuster to keep it from coming to a vote for several years now.

Poor doctor surveys, burden to the medical community and risk of personal data getting out were all mentioned. However, also mentioned was that this data was already available in databases.

When we are at our doctor's office, they are putting this information in their system, our pharmacist adds it to their system, and then our insurance provider does as well.

A representative who is a pharmacist explained how linking his multiple drugstores' databases together has helped them tremendously in catching those who are getting multiple prescriptions and filling at multiple drugstores.

Rep. Engler did a phenomenal job explaining the need for our law enforcement and pharmacists to be able to catch doctor shopping. He told of a constituent dying from a drug overdose -- that wasn't their prescription.

I also spoke on the floor and told about the struggles my daughter has had for more than 10 years now after becoming addicted to prescription pain medication at only 17 years old.

She was given a pain medication prescription in the emergency room after cutting her finger at work, and began buying them from people at work from that time on. I could not chase down all the people selling pills to her.

Once the pills no longer gave her the high she once had, she moved on to other drugs. My story seemed to open the floor up as other representatives got up to speak.

One representative got up and told of the struggles his family is going through with his sister, and prescription drug addiction, and the hopelessness they feel currently and the need to have this tool.

Representative after representative came to me afterward and thanked me for my honesty and courage to speak so candidly on the floor of the House. They told me of personal heartaches from prescription drug abuses in their families.

Many years ago I purposed in my heart to make sure that the struggles in my life can be of help to others.

I know that the things the devil means for harm, God can change to good.

After 11 years, our daughter is still fighting. She has her ups and downs, but the downs are much fewer these days and much farther between.

This is a necessary program to allow law enforcement to fight drug dealers.

According to the report by the Trust for America's Health, prescription drug abuse is a top public health concern. They note that prescription drug-related deaths now outnumber those from heroin and cocaine combined.

Holly Rehder, of Sikeston, Mo., is the 148th district state representative in the Missouri House of Representatives.