So, unless you’ve been under a rock (or working 12-hour shifts in a pharmacy), you’ve probably heard that the FDA is considering a third class of drugs called “Behind the counter,” where certain drugs will be made available without a prescription as long as a pharmacist counsels the patient.
The prime example of this is already in effect: Plan B. I was just reading an article on the subject of BTC, when I came across this doozy:
Citing Plan B as an example, [Kristin Moore, an opponent of BTC] said placing it behind the counter has unnecessarily delayed access to this time-sensitive treatment, potentially increasing the risk of unintended pregnancy.
Wait a second; making Plan B available without a prescription has delayed access to it? Let me get this straight; being able to show ID at any local pharmacy takes longer than scheduling an emergency appointment at your doctor’s office, waiting for hours to be seen by a doctor, then driving to the pharmacy and having to wait for the pharmacist to fill the prescription?
As John Stossel would say, give me a break.
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Yesterday, a concerned father came into the pharmacy with a pill his wife found in their 13 year old son’s bedroom. We took a look at the pill, knowing full well that it was most likely a narcotic, but we gave the kid the benefit of the doubt.
It was a round, white pill, with the number 30 on one side, and some other numbers on the other side. When we looked it up, it turned out to be Morphine Sulfate ER 30mg.
The pharmacist told this to the father, who just about lost it. “What!” he said in disbelief. He asked for a printout about it, and of course all we could do was print the patient info sheet that goes in every prescription bag. (He wanted something with a picture, but none of our sources had one.)
Personally, I feel no sympathy for the kid, only for the parent. If you’re smart enough to hide it from your parents and stupid enough to get caught, you deserve whatever your parents dish out. (If this had happened when I was 13, my parents would have smacked me so hard, I’d still be feeling it.)
Besides, there are enough illegal drugs out there with fewer side effects.
