Pharmacists join DEA in war on pain management practices

I missed this last week but the newly uncloaked Michelle Pilecki, formerly known on The Huff blog as Nellie B, catches this item from the annual meeting of the American Medical Association.

CHICAGO, June 20-The American Medical Association's policy-making body voted today to press for state laws that would allow physicians to dispense medications when there is no nearby pharmacist willing to dispense the prescribed drugs.

The new AMA policy is an attempt to overcome what doctors say is a stampede of pharmacists who say they cannot in good conscience dispense certain medications.

Although it's been the pharmacist's refusal to dispense birth control drugs that has received all the attention, it appears the practice of prescription fulfillment based on personal values has grown to encompass pain medications and legal psychotropic drugs commonly prescribed for mental disorders. A matter of no small concern with "14 states already considering legislation aimed at protecting pharmacists' right to refuse to fill prescriptions based on religious, personal or moral grounds and nine more states in the process of enacting legislation that would allow pharmacists to refuse prescriptions 'for any reason.'"

Astounding. Why bother to train doctors when our legislators are willing to allow the DEA and the pharmacists to dictate best medical practices? This policy trend is not only ill-advised, it's downright dangerous to the public safety. Michelle is right. This should be bigger news.