Editorial: States Should Be Able To Ban Sale of Rx Data

The Supreme Court this month will hear a case over whether states can restrict the release of data on individual doctors' prescriptions, a Los Angeles Times editorial states. Market research firms and drug manufacturers argue that the sale of such information is "a form of 'speech' that the states could regulate only if there was a compelling state interest and only if they used the least restrictive means to do so," according to the editorial. However, the editorial concludes, "Drug makers should be able to market their products, but their 1st Amendment rights shouldn't guarantee them access to sensitive data that wouldn't exist but for the government's requirement that doctors and patients disclose it."

• "Your Rx or Your Privacy" (Los Angeles Times, 2/1).