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Scott Rejects Funds For Drug Database

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) - Florida Governor Rick Scott is developing a reputation of turning down money from outside sources. The latest comes after the maker of OxyContin offered up $1 million to help pay for a prescription drug database.

Governor Scott wants to get rid of the database completely and told Purdue Pharma that he wasn't interested in the money, according to CBSMiami news partner the Miami Herald.

Scott claims the database would intrude too much on a patient's privacy. Purdue Pharma has lobbied other states for databases, but their million-dollar offer was the first they had made to help get a database going.

Florida has become the largest consumer of pain medication in the United States. However, through doctor shopping and pill mills, the majority of the pain meds bought in Florida end up on the black market in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and other states whose residents love the so-called, "hillbilly heroin."

Florida is the largest state in the country without a prescription monitoring database. Thirty-nine states have databases, and another nine have approved them.

The database is still on track to begin, but according to the Herald, there's no word if Scott would allow the Department of Health to go forward with a software contract for the database.

(© MMXI CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)

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