Colorado Allows Pharmacies to Dispense Naloxone Without a Prescription as Overdose Deaths Climb
Coming at a time when heroin and opioid overdoses are gripping the nation, a new Colorado law allows pharmacies to sell naloxone without a prescription. A number of states are allowing measures like Colorado’s to combat increasing overdose death rates associated with prescription opioid and heroin abuse. NABP’s AWARXE® Prescription Drug Safety Program is working to […]
Read More ›NABP, Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies Warn Public About Rogue Online Pharmacies in USP Blog
The majority of online drug sellers operate illegally and sell counterfeit medications that can contain toxins such as floor wax and road tar, warn NABP and the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP). In a post on Quality Matters, the blog of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), NABP Executive Director Carmen A. Catizone, MS, […]
Read More ›Pharmacies Could Volunteer to Add Locking Devices on Painkillers Under Illinois Bill
Illinois legislators passed a bill to create a pilot program that will give pharmacies the option of placing locking devices on some painkiller prescriptions to ensure only the patient has access to the medication. The bill, which is with Governor Bruce Rauner, calls on the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to run the […]
Read More ›Pennsylvania Governor Signs Law Allowing Pharmacists to Issue Flu Vaccinations to Some Children
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has signed into law a bill that will allow pharmacists to provide flu vaccinations to people age nine or older. House Bill 182 removes a stipulation from Pennsylvania law that limited administration of immunizations for school-age children to physicians only. The bill is intended to make it easier for children to […]
Read More ›Proposed Federal Legislation Would Permit Office Use Compounding, Revise MOUs in Section 503A of FD&C Act
Legislation proposed by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) would revise Section 503A of the FD&C Act to exempt drug products where the pharmacy’s product is “compounded and distributed to a practitioner where, as permitted under State law, the drug product is used in the treatment of or administered to a patient of the practitioner.” The Saving […]
Read More ›Rogue Internet Drug Sellers Scrutinized at Congressional Committee Hearing on Internet Accountability
The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet held a hearing today, May 13, 2015, to hear testimony from stakeholders regarding the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, how the Internet is governed, and steps for trust and accountability in the Internet’s operation. As part of the […]
Read More ›California Pharmacists May Now Dispense Naloxone Without Prescription
Pharmacists in California may now provide naloxone, the medication that can help to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, without a prescription after the California State Board of Pharmacy approved new emergency regulations (PDF). To be eligible to dispense the drug under the new regulations, pharmacists must complete one hour of continuing education (CE) […]
Read More ›Change State Laws to Support Pharmacists’ Participation in Integrated Health Care Teams, Say Nation’s Governors
Pharmacists can greatly improve patient outcomes and help reduce costs when participating in interdisciplinary health care teams, states a new paper (PDF) from the National Governors Association (NGA). However, many state laws and regulations prevent pharmacists from being able to practice “to the full scope of their professional training,” the NGA reports. The association suggests […]
Read More ›South Carolina Council Calls for PMP Participation to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse
Physicians should be required to register with South Carolina’s prescription monitoring program (PMP) database, recommends Governor Nikki Haley’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Council, a committee charged in March with creating a plan to fight the state’s prescription drug abuse problem. South Carolina’s PMP was established in 2008, but prescriber registration is voluntary, and only 21% have […]
Read More ›Prescriptions for Anxiety, Sleep Medications Expose Teens to Abuse Risk
Teenagers prescribed sleep or anxiety medications such as Lunesta® or Xanax® are at greater risk of abusing those drugs than adolescents who have never been prescribed such medications, reports new research published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Researchers from the University of Michigan surveyed more than 2,700 middle and high school students from […]
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