Feds don’t need warrant to subpoena Oregon drug data

PORTLAND – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency doesn’t need a court order to subpoena a prescription drug database kept by the state of Oregon.

The Monday ruling reverses a 2014 circuit court judge finding that the agency could not subpoena the database, which Oregon uses to help health-care providers identify abuse.

But the appeals panel didn’t resolve the question of whether the DEA subpoenas violate constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

The Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring Program sued the DEA in 2012 over the administrative subpoenas for patient prescription records.

The American Civil Liberties Union joined, saying the requests violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

The appeals court says the ACLU doesn’t have standing and didn’t address that issue.