Sen. Sherrod Brown is pushing the state of Ohio to put a stop to “shopping” and “hopping.”

The U.S. Senator is becoming a vocal advocate for meaningful changes to the state’s handling of doctors and prescription medications, all with the goal of curbing the epidemic of drug abuse.

Brown’s latest push is tied to preventing those who are on Medicaid from “doctor shopping” and “pharmacy hopping.”

The problem is that many people are abusing the system and essentially allowing taxpayers to subsidize or fund their drug habit.

Brown has proposed a Medicaid lock-in that would make it harder to get prescriptions from multiple doctors and to take those to a variety of pharmacies.

The politician is on target to think that this could help prevent the problem.

It isn’t a perfect solution and still needs to be fully developed in order not to penalize patients who have legitimate health issues that require them .

Southern Ohio remains one of the areas hit hardest by this epidemic as prescription painkillers and other narcotics have become the most abused drug in the region, passing crack and cocaine.

Better regulation and communication between our state’s pharmacies and legitimate physicians is a key step in this process.

Although it may inconvenience some, the benefits to the many outweigh the impact to the few.