Karen PershingThe Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill on April 14, 2014 requiring anyone picking up a controlled substance from a pharmacy to present a form of identification.  Believe it or not, before this bill was passed, you had to show a photo ID to pick up pseudoephedrine products, but not scheduled and potentially addictive narcotics.

The Knox County Prescription Drug Task Force (based out of the Metropolitan Drug Commission) drafted the bill and spent time negotiating with stakeholder groups in Nashville to make sure the bill was something that all parties could agree upon.  With the help of Representatives Bob Ramsey and Bill Dunn and Senator Ken Yager, the bill was passed unanimously and will become law effective July 1, 2014.

This just proves that important things can happen when you bring people together; develop common goals and objectives, and work to achieve them.  This is just an example of the importance of community coalition work.