Pharmacist's Opinions Now Out Weigh Doctor's Orders

Just Because the Doctor Wrote It, Don't Think You'll Get Your Meds Anytime Soon

Lately, pharmacists have gotten just a little too big for their britches. Now I’m not belittling pharmacy as a profession. In every state, it takes a college degree and specialized training to become a licensed pharmacist. They work long hours, sometimes 14 hour shifts, and have to be on their toes at all times. One mistake could kill. They are a wealth of drug-interaction knowledge and have caught several potentially harmful interactions in my medications.

Their jobs have been made much harder by recent laws that require signatures for pseudo-ephedrine products. My life’s been complicated by that, too. Instead of the extra two minutes it should take to get my antihistamine, it now takes 15 while the man in front of me rants about government intrusion into his personal affairs. Mister, let’s get some serious perspective. The governments not really interested in your runny nose. If you’re worried about your fourth amendment rights, switch to vapor rub. Besides, if your state is like mine, those signatures don’t go anywhere useful. The paper gets locked in a box at the pharmacy. Nothing is entered into a central database; nothing is every cross-referenced between pharmacies. The method of executing that law has no direct impact on meth production. This isn’t about those complex laws. This is about the expectation that when I visit a pharmacy chain, I simply want my meds. I want consistency in my life and lately pharmacists have been the bane of my sanity.