81.   Earlier this month, a separate regulatory group, the State Board of Medical Examiners, ruled that doctors could not prescribe drugs without examining a patient in person.

82.   Early results on new AIDS drugs also suggest the way new drugs are prescribed may help people with HIV live longer.

83.   Federal law requires that doctors only prescribe a drug if it has a proven medical purpose.

84.   For reasons that remain unclear to the authors of the JAMA study, Southerners are prescribed more drugs than people in other parts of the country.

85.   For example, it said, pharmacists often have difficulty deciphering the illegible handwriting of doctors who prescribe drugs.

86.   Furthermore, the drugs should be prescribed only for patients who have been unable to achieve or maintain weight loss on a sensible diet and exercise program.

87.   Generally, doctors prescribe cholesterol drugs to people with high levels of LDL cholesterol.

88.   Further, the drugs are prescribed on a temporary basis, Tenery said.

89.   He added that only gastroenterologists should be allowed to prescribe the drug.

90.   He agreed to prescribe the drug on an experimental basis.