First, there was the DNA bill, where innocent people who are arrested will have their DNA information collected by the government to protect, in a very minimal way, public safety.
Now comes what may be one of the worst ideas I have seen in years and can’t believe it was even discussed at a legislative committee meeting. The state’s sheriff association wants sheriffs to have “access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions
for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances.” Note: This issue is also discussed on the Meck Deck.
It doesn’t matter if there’s any probable cause for such information. The sheriffs want all this information even though almost of the information will be related to innocent people. How will such a privacy violation impact whether people seek necessary medications? Will this create a larger black market for medicines?
All of these terrible ideas come at the same time when there should be little faith in law enforcement (see the SBI debacle).
There’s no compelling reason why the state needs DNA information and certainly not health information covering more than 50 million prescriptions. Further, there’s no doubt that there would be abuse of that information (yes, I will say it, the government will abuse this information).
