(Columbia-AP) Feb. 11, 2004 -- A House budget panel approved a plan Wednesday that would monitor all prescription drug sales. Under the measure, the state would maintain a database of prescription drugs sold in the state. It would also include who bought the drugs.

House Majority Leader Rick Quinn won approval for the database. He told the panel that the measure would help cut down on prescription drug abuses. He says police would be able to catch someone who visited many doctors and got prescription drugs that they resold.

Sue Berkowitz, executive director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, says the measure seems overreaching. She says law-abiding citizens should not have their records gone through just because law enforcement wants to check them.

Posted 9:44pm by BrettWitt