“I’ll never ask for another pain pill again”: ℞ database damage in Utah | Ars Technica

“I’ll never ask for another pain pill again”: ℞ database damage in Utah | Ars Technica: "For the most part, attorney Tyler Ayres practices criminal law in Draper, Utah. If you Google him, the first result reads “Utah DUI Attorney.” But recently, Ayres has grown into a de facto voice against the third-party doctrine and Utah’s drug database, a combination allowing authorities to access citizens' prescription drug histories nearly carte blanche. Ayres has represented at least a dozen people with unforeseen issues because of this arrangement. The worse abuse he’s seen involves two of his clients: Candy Holmes and Russell Smithey. FURTHER READING THE BIG DRUG DATABASE IN THE SKY: ONE FIREFIGHTER’S YEAR-LONG LEGAL NIGHTMARE Authorities dig through prescription med databases thanks to pre-digital age precedent. Both Holmes and Smithey have extensive criminal histories. In a recent interview, Smithey conceded that he was an intravenous drug user and has since completed a drug court program. In 2011, his partner, Holmes, was picking up her prescription at a pharmacy near their home in Vernal, Utah. Both Holmes and Smithey regularly took Oxycodone and Methadone. Ben Murray, an officer with the Vernal City Police Department, watched this Holmes encounter with the pharmacist, according to Smithey, and confirmed by deposition documents. Murray says that “she was so intoxicated that she couldn’t even get her money out.” Smithey tells the story differently. He says Murray saw Holmes take some of the medication and get into her car to drive home. It would have taken longer than the drive home for the pills to set in, he explains. Either way, the undisputed facts are that Murray contacted dispatch and Holmes was arrested in her driveway after failing a sobriety test."

'via Blog this'