Incredibly, the Maries County Commission and Maries County sheriff, Chris Heitman, continue their effort to track law-abiding citizens in a government database that has the very real potential to be used against their right to keep and bear arms, among other abuses.
The PDMP (Prescription Drug Monitoring Program) they want to implement puts some of your personal healthcase information in a computer database that can be accessed by tens of thousands of people across the entire United States and who knows what country.
In fact, there is nothing to keep even a Chinese company from controlling your electronic information.
And there is virtually no accountability for data breaches, like the one that occurred in 2013 when the Missouri Department of Revenue illegally released the names of all 163,000 conceal carry permit holders to a federal agency.
On the heels of that data breach, the Missouri General Assembly offered two constitutional amendments.
In 2014 Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved those two amendments and they have a direct bearing on PDMPs. Amendment 5 added a declaration that the right to bear arms is “unalienable” and added additional legal protections to that right. It passed with over 60% of the vote statewide and 79% in Maries County.
At the same election, voters passed Amendment 9 to protect our “electronic data” from search and seizure. Nearly 75% of statewide voters and 79% of Maries County voters resoundingly demanded that government keep its hands off our personal data!
I had a hand in the development of both of those amendments and feel a responsibility to defend the rights they seek to guarantee.
For the last several years I have fought the passage of PDMP bills at our state capitol. The legislature has rejected PDMPs every year out of concerns for the very things discussed here, as well as many other reasons.
The St. Louis County PDMP that the commissioners and sheriff want to join is particularly troublesome.
Even state legislators who support a statewide PDMP say the St. Louis County program is dangerous.
Watch and listen to what Senator Caleb Rowden said about the PDMP the commissioners want your data in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jdj5pX_bMs Or search YouTube for “Caleb Rowden PDMP threatens gun rights.”
PDMPs threaten law-abiding citizens, and for what?
Virtually the only legitimate purpose of a PDMP is to prevent “doctor shopping,” the practice of getting multiple narcotics prescriptions for one claimed ailment. But research has clearly shown that less than 3% of the opioid abuse problem comes from doctor shopping. See the research by Springfield, MO physician, Dr. John Lily at https://drjohnlilly.com/pdmp-2/
Simply put, PDMPs have a long track record of not working to lessen deaths from opioid abuse. In fact, deaths actually increased in the years following the implementation of the St. Louis County program.
The people of Maries County have shown time and time again that they value their liberty and reject big city ideas, so why in the world do our commissioners and sheriff want to get in bed with St. Louis County and let our personal information be managed by some of the most liberal politicians in the state?
Maybe you should call each one of them and ask.
Ron Calzone
