I would agree with you completely, Dr. Fry, that it has worked not just in B.C., but in other provinces. For example, Alberta, I think, led the way with the triplicate prescription. It's a beautiful low-tech way to collect data.
Some of the difficulties are in accessing the data in a timely manner, and so on. For example, in my situation in the emergency department, if I have somebody in front of me asking for OxyContin, how can I find out where they got their last three prescriptions and when that happened? There would be a significant time delay in the triplicate process. It's better than not having any data, but it still has some limitations.
In the absence of an electronic database, I think the triplicate form is an excellent way to provide some of that data and to give the professional college and the provincial ministries an opportunity to get a bird's-eye view of what's happening, and to identify the outliers, as you've said, and bring them up to speed.