House speaker Greg Stumbo accuses the state Board of Medical Licensure of not stopping "pill mills" in Kentucky and is drafting new legislation in an effort to curb the problem.

Paintsville police say there are too many prescription pills on the streets for sale and being abused. Investigators say the pills are not coming from out of state, but rather in Eastern Kentucky.

"We have many doctors that will prescribe just about any medication to anyone. It's really a big problem," said Narcotics Detective Kenneth Prater.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo blames the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure for not stopping it.

He says the board has oversight through KASPER to determine which doctors are "over-prescribing" pills.

"We license these doctors. They're within our boundaries. I see no reason why we have to have the situation where these pill mills or these renegade doctors are allowed to prescribe narcotics," said Stumbo (D-Prestonsburg).

Thursday, Stumbo requested the board's documents regarding KASPER. Stumbo said, "to see whether or not there is something in their records that will give us a clue as to why they have refused to help us enforce the law."

Stumbo is drafting a bill that would take authority away from the medical licensure board and give it to Health and Human Services.
The bill would also create a new license doctors would have to get to prescribe scheduled narcotics.

"New legislation would be great to regulate how these are prescribed," said Det. Prater.

Stumbo plans to file the bill in January at the next General Assembly.

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure members were in a meeting on Thursday and unavailable to respond to Stumbo's allegations.

They plan to talk with WYMT on Friday.