Why does the Bush administration have a list of everyone who has ever used anti-depressants?

[meldroc]

Why does the Bush administration have a list of everyone who has ever used anti-depressants?

Guess what? They do. From ABC News, regarding the VA Tech shooter:

Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.

We don't even have a list of gun owners, and we have a list of everyone who has been prescribed anti-depressants? And in fact, the article suggests that this isn't just a database of patients who use anti-depressants, it's a federal database of every prescription drug you've ever bought.

What exactly do the Bushies do with that list? And what other lists do they have of which medications you've ever taken?

There's something to help me sleep at night - some FBI agent compiling a dossier on me because I go to war protests and post on liberal sites - name, address, appearance, tattoos, medications taken... You know the motherfuckers will abuse this information.

[dottym]

1. oh that's just great.

:sarcasm:

[seemslikeadream]

2. abuse this information.

http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf

[whistle]

3. How did such a list come into existence? How would the president's staff

....get a copy?

[robinlynne]

10. hmos would be a great big part of it. In addition, when the patriot act passed,

a therapist told me that they all got a legal letter saying that if asked, they have to provide ALL files to the gov't and if they TELL THE PATIENT this is happening, they go to jail. period.

[Solly Mack]

4. k/r

[MadMaddie]

5. Could they have the information because he had to get his

citizenship card?

But wait...that wouldn't make sense now would it?

Because if the government has this kind of information...surely they would have the information on 19 foreign born nationals intent on hijacking planes and crashing them into buildings....

[Pavulon]

6. Ever read the privacy statement from your pharmacy

they can turn your records over as part of a criminal investigation.

[KnaveRupe]

7. Not necessarily true.

At least one person calls BS. Personally, I'm not convinced, but in the interest of making sure people have sufficient information before making up their minds, I submit the following:

from boingboing.net...

BB reader Paul Pellerito writes in...

The "federal drugs database" mentioned in your recent post about the VA tech shootings seems to be somewhat flawed; the funding is for states to adopt registries reporting schedules II-V controlled substances (spam-email things like ritalin, valium, xanax, adderall, vicodin, and oxycontin) but the most commonly prescribed antidepressants like prozac, lexapro, zoloft, effexor, etc are schedule six and thus not considered controlled substances. My day job is working in a pharmacy in Michigan, and we do not report schedule VI to any state or federal database. Chances are if Cho was on an antidepressant the record would not be in a national database. His pharmacy and his prescription insurance company will know, however.

So, make of that what you will. Personally, I believe there exists no offense so egregious these thugs are incapable of committing it.

[Octafish]

8. Wonder if an insurance company or pharmacy would protect a patient's privacy?

I wouldn't be surprised, as Bush and his cronies have helped themselves to whatever information they wanted.

[Poiuyt]

9. Wouldn't it be normal to subpoena his medical records after a crime like this?

This doesn't necessarily imply that there is a database of people on Prozac

[robinlynne]

11. no need for a subpoena or a crime. the patriot act.

[AZBlue]

12. Someone's going to lose their job for that slip-up...

K&R

[KnaveRupe]

13. Again, with the devil's advocacy...

... but after re-reading the statement, it could be that they checked the government's files on "legal resident aliens", rather than the government's files on "antidepressant users".

Of course, as a "legal permanent resident" you are afforded pretty much all of the rights guaranteed under the constitution, so it doesn't necessarily make it any better that the government would be collecting data such as antidepressant use.

"Privacy? Yeah, you aren't entitled to that. Here... buy a gun to make you feel better about it."

[seabeyond]

14. wellbutrin. i used it to help me stop smoking not depression.

oooops.

[formercia]

15. Disarming America

Bush Gang wants to take away the means for defending themselves from anyone who isn't a loyal Bushite. Just wait, the Cho incident is just a segue for legislation....and they will get one of their Dem lackeys to propose it. They are already using Lautenberg's legislation to disarm anyone that has had a protection order taken against them.

If you get stopped for a DUI and it turns into a record of being under the influence of Pot, you can forget about ever buying a gun legally. Get busted for a joint, same thing.

They want to make sure only their people have the guns.

The next step is pretty obvious.