Calif. Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill into law Tuesday that will require physicians to check an online database of prescription narcotics before writing prescriptions for addictive drugs as part of an effort to stem opioid abuse, according to the Miami Herald.
The legislation seeks to make it more difficult for patients to "shop" for physicians, a practice in which people seeking prescriptions for addictive narcotics visit numerous physicians to obtain the drugs.
Physicians have lobbied for the past 20 years to block efforts that would mandate prescribers to review patients' prescription histories before writing scripts for narcotics. That changed this year after California legislators moved to provide additional funding to modernize the drug monitoring program, according to the report.
The new law, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Ricardo Lara, requires physicians and nurses to check the database for signs of drug abuse when prescribing narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet, as well as steroids, sleep aids and psychiatric medications. The healthcare providers are also responsible for checking the database every four months for as long as the drug regimen extends, according to the report.