The new U.S. drug czar plans to crack down on doctors who hand out prescriptions too freely, USA Today reports.
The newspaper quoted an interview with Gil Kerlikowske in which he said he would ask more states to create programs in which doctors and pharmacists enter prescriptions in a database so that police can track them.
"We get overly concerned about drugs coming in, but the pharmaceuticals are here already," he reportedly said.
Kerlikowske specifically mentioned oxycodone (OxyContin), a painkiller sometimes prescribed by dentists for pain after oral surgery.
His statements came in the same week that federal prosecutors charged two Wyoming dentists with illegally distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone (Hycodan), according to Rivertonradio.com.
The indictment found that Daniel Hauck, D.D.S., of Riverton and orthodontist Brent Bills, D.M.D., of Lander obtained the drugs "without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice," the radio station said.
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