https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/385/oregon.shtml

At its annual meeting in the mountain resort town of Sunriver, the Oregon Medical Association last weekend turned aside a resolution proposing a state law that would require doctors to report methamphetamine-using patients to public health authorities, the Oregonian newspaper reported. Instead, after "intense debate," delegates asked an OMA committee to craft improved guidelines for dealing with users of the popular, widely-available stimulant.

With Oregon claiming the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest per capita meth use rate, Salem orthopedist and trauma surgeon Dr. Harold Boyd pushed the resolution, arguing that it would lead to a more effective public health policy related to the drug. "If you registered these people with public health officials, you'd be bringing them out of the shadows," he told the Oregonian. "It would be saying, 'We know your diagnosis, we know who you are, we're here to say you're an OK person but your behavior isn't.'"

The proposal, sponsored by the Marion-Polk County Medical Society, asked the OMA to back legislation that would declare using or manufacturing meth "a public health issue with all the reporting and tracking procedures associated with other public health issues."

Federal privacy laws and state ethics codes typically bar reporting patients' confidential medical data, with few exceptions, Boyd said. But the law he was backing would be similar to existing laws that require doctors to report child abuse or people with infectious disease, he argued. Mandatory notification would mean public health officials could gather more information on meth users and use it to figure out better ways of coping with its consequences, he said.

But several doctors challenged Boyd's approach during debate, said OMA spokesman Jim Kronenberg said. Some health officers said they did not know what they would do with such information, he said, while many doctors said meth-using patients would not seek help if they thought their doctors would report them. "People who deal with addictive behaviors really didn't think this was a good idea," he said.

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