Alabama’s drug database helps spot patients, doctors misusing prescriptions

Alabama is making it easier for pharmacists, doctors and law enforcement to monitor prescription drug sales and spot abuse, illegal sales and suspicious prescribing. Doctors, medical license boards and others have checked the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program database more than 30,000 times since it became functional last year. The database collects weekly information on filled prescriptions dispensed by doctors, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists and veterinarians.