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I don't pretend know much about this other than my own cursory research and what I have read above. The additional information you quoted from the commenter with experience in a pharmacy does reinforce my suspicion that antidepressant presecriptions are not included in a federal database.
So I continue to wonder about the complete accuracy of the ABC report and its sources. It may be that they did not comprehend what antidepressants are. Perhaps the database was just searched globally by Cho's name, and found nothing at all.
I also confess that I was ignorant of the fact that this database had ever been created. It happened below my radar. I am not entirely sure what I think of the policy issue of whether it is a good idea. Some of the drugs on those schedules seem pretty harmless, but some others can surely be abused.
As for your reading of the disclosure provision of the act, the only way I can see that it could be accessed here would be if there was a bona fide hypothesis that Cho might have misused some scheduled drug (not including antidepressants, which don't seem to be covered).
It may be a stretch, but if law-enforcement authorities did suspect some sort of "misuse," they arguably could say "that the requested information is related to an individual investigation or proceeding involving the unlawful diversion or misuse of a schedule II, III, or IV substance, and such information will further the purpose of the investigation or assist in the proceeding." The statute does not seem to define a threshold requirement for supporting any such suspicion.
But it is far from clear to me that such a database search would be legal, either.
It is disconcerting to think that some law-enforcement official who has some unspecified curiosity about you or me could just search the database to find out about our history of filling such prescriptions.
