Victoria refuses to sign on to national prescription drug database DOCTOR "shopping" is rife in Victoria - the only state yet to adopt new technology that combats rorting by drug addicts. The federally funded, real-time prescription medication database, modelled on a Tasmanian system, has been introduced in all states and territories, except Victoria and the Northern Territory. The NT has its own drug-monitoring program and has committed to implement the national system. Victoria is the only state that has not committed to introducing the database, despite a growing numbers of deaths from prescription opioids. Doctor shopping must stop In 2010 more people died from drug deaths than those killed in vehicle accidents, according to data from the Victorian Coroners' Court. Of the 338 people who died from drugs, more than 75 per cent involved prescription-based pharmaceuticals. Health Minister David Davis' spokeswoman, Justine Sywak, said the Victoria Government was leading the development of a National Pharmaceutical Drug Misuse Framework for Action, due to be released this year. "Victoria is also engaging with the Commonwealth to ensure that the real-time prescription monitoring software system it develops is fit for all states' and territories' purposes," Ms Sywak said. But federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the potential for drug abuse would increase if Victoria did not sign up. "In effect, it could contribute to doctor shopping and may allow people to obtain unsafe amounts of potentially dangerous and addictive drugs," Ms Plibersek said. She said Victoria's defiance meant doctors in border towns would not be able to see a patient's full prescription history - and it would be more difficult for Victorians who moved interstate to access drugs for legitimate purposes. A little more than years ago, Bendigo man Shane Hassett, 29, died from an overdose of prescription drugs, leaving behind a wife and six-month-old baby. Mr Hassett was taking codeine-based drugs OxyContin and Endone as well as benzodiazepines such as Xanax and non-prescription painkillers. Mr Hassett's sister, Narelle, has campaigned since her brother's death for the introduction of the centralised monitoring system. "It bewilders me as to why the Victorian Government chooses to ignore not only rapidly rising statistics pertaining to the abuse of prescription drugs but to also ignore the families of people who have lost loved ones to overdose," Ms Hassett said. Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association executive officer Sam Biondo said the Government's lack of commitment was a sign of disrespect to the families who had lost loved ones.