Drug bill would give doctors unbiased details on medication

Imagine our doctors getting an unbiased education on the medications they prescribe instead of having to rely on drug company sales reps to tell them what's on the market and how well it works.

That's already happening in other countries -- Australia, England, the Netherlands and some provinces of Canada. It's happening -- or about to -- in some parts of the United States, too, including Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington, D.C.

Ohio and the rest of the nation could see the same thing if a couple of U.S. senators get their way.

Democrats Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Dick Durbin of Illinois are writing a bill that would provide accurate and objective drug information to any doctor in America who wants it.

Government-funded pharmacists and nurses who've studied the drugs -- all of them, even generics and over-the-counter ones -- and who understand their pros and cons would prepare the information and present it to doctors interested in having it. And the information would be available to consumers, those of us who end up having to take this stuff.

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