U.S. Senator Pat Toomey is calling for senate action to support a program that combats prescription drug abuse.
Toomey is part of a bipartisan group of senators who want to reauthorize the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting program. NASPER is a federal program that helps states develop a monitoring system that gives health care providers and law enforcement access to a patients prescription drug history.
"I hope that we will be able to get this done and provide the state with the tools to be able to build the systems that will help us to monitor, to prevent and to discover the abuse when it`s occurring," Toomey said.
Supporters of the bill re-authorization expect it to pass easily.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, prescription drugs are the second commonly abused substance by Americans 14 and older.