DEA Fighting with Medical Associations, ACLU over Privacy of PDMP Records

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is appealing a federal court decision requiring it to demonstrate probable cause when demanding information from Oregon's prescription drug-monitoring database, saying patients have no more expectation of privacy in medical records transmitted to a state-run database than individuals have with financial information maintained by banking institutions. Furthermore, broad investigative powers authorized under the Controlled Substances Act trump any state law requiring law enforcement to demonstrate probable cause when demanding records from a PDMP, the DE...