Missouri counties do what state won't: Track opioid sales

     (AP) – Some of Missouri's biggest cities and counties have banded
together to do what the state won't: track the prescription and sale of opioids.
     St. Louis County, the city of St. Louis and several other counties have their
own prescription drug monitoring program set to go online next month.
     Missouri is the only state without such a system, thanks largely to the
efforts of a Republican state senator who has concerns about patient privacy and
the potential for health records to be hacked.
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says such systems have been
effective in other states at reducing opioid overdose deaths, overprescribing
and pill shopping, in which people seek multiple prescriptions from several
doctors.