JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri would be the last state to create a prescription drug monitoring program under a measure approved by Missouri's House.

Supporters argue the bill would help prevent a person from visiting multiple doctors for prescription drugs, also known as "doctor shopping." State databases get a federal grant from the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

A similar bill failed in the Senate in 2012 when Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, filibustered it, arguing it would infringe on citizens' liberties. 

In the 2013 legislative session, Schaaf sponsored a bill that would create a program that allowed the Department of Health and Senior Services to monitor prescribing and dispensing of prescription drugs. Schaaf inserted a referendum in the bill to put the program on the ballot, Schaaf said voters should have opportunity to vote if they want give up their privacy.   

Schaaf is against a monitoring program that can not protect private information.

According to a report from October 2013 by Trust for America's Health, Missouri drug overdoses tripled between 1999 and 2010. The non-profit organization ranked Missouri seventh in drug overdose mortality rate in the United States with a majority prescription drug overdoses.

Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, said he's in support of the bill, saying many coming from out of state to get prescription drugs in Missouri.

"People from out of state are taking advantage of the state," said Slater. Slater a pharmacist said he has seen many abusers come into his pharmacy.

"I wouldn't want say my mothers, or my sister's, or my daughter's very private medical information on a data that 20,000 people could put in their access code and see," Schaaf said. Schaaf went on to point out the many security breaches over the past year as an example that no information is safe.

Bill sponsor Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, said that there are already databases that have private information.

"Most people are already in a database, Medicaid and Medicare are both databases," Engler said. Engler said that decreasing prescription drug abuse in Missouri is more important than fear of private information leaking.