In an effort to crack down on prescription drug abuse, officials from the Department of Public Health proposed amendments to the Prescription Monitoring Program mandating that pharmacists check identification for all customers filling prescriptions for Schedule II drugs which have a high abuse risk, at a hearing on Monday morning.

Speakers at the public hearing, held at the State Lab Institute, discussed additional communication requirements that would also be implemented requiring pharmacists to report to the Department of Public Health when prescribing the drugs.

Schedule II drugs are among the leading candidates for illicit drug use, according to Texas State Board of Pharmacy website. These drugs include narcotics, stimulants and depressants such as morphine, cocaine and oxycodone.

The Prescription Monitoring Program is meant to identify and prevent drug abuse among physicians, patients and pharmacists and aid regulatory agencies, according to the DPH website.

At the hearing, Boston Police detective Randy Wellman said he supports the proposed changes.

“[The amendments] are very important and have been a long time coming,” he said.

Wellman highlighted the benefits of the communication regulation, saying it would help doctors have a better understanding of a patient’s abuse.

“It is very important for this communication between physician and patient to be documented, especially concerning Schedule II drugs, because it would allow a doctor to go back to the data if he suspected abuse,” he said.

Wellman added that it is “too early” to gather data on Schedule III drugs, which include harder prescription medication, such as Valium and Prozac.

Nathan Katz, a neurologist and the only other speaker at the hearing, said he works closely with the Food and Drug Administration and the DPH to help improve prescription habits.

He also voiced his support for the amendments, adding that more information and statistics about patient drug abuse of should be available for doctors to better aid in recoveries.

“The amendments are necessary,” Katz said. “Abuse is very hard to detect even for trained physicians. Therefore, physicians are afraid to prescribe opiate therapy. An improvement of accurate data is needed to enable physicians to be more comfortable prescribing and withdrawing Schedule II drugs.”