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The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) appears to have completely lost its way with its recent release of a pharmacists’ toolkit aimed at killing developing children. Earlier this week, the association, which bills itself as the national voice for the practice of pharmacy in Canada, enthusiastically posted on social media links to learning videos and pamphlets aimed at killing the youngest members of the human family. “Micro-learning videos on medication abortion to support pharmacists are available,” the January 8 post stated. “These 5 videos provide all the information you need to know as you dispense the medications to end a pregnancy...

Around a thousand pharmacy workers across the country have walked off the job as part of a strike to protest conditions.The so-called "Pharmageddon" series of walkouts at pharmacy chains including CVS and Walgreens stores started Monday, Oct. 30, and is expected to continue at least through the middle of the week. Around 900 people from about 10 states could participate, organizers of the ongoing protest told NBC News. A growing workload and understaffing are the main reasons for the protest, organizers say, noting that the pharmacy workers are not unionized.In a statement to KDKA in Pittsburgh, CVS said it is...

Thousands of pharmacists are walking out on their jobs this week in protest of working conditions. The pharmacists have focused their ire on CVS and Walgreens — mega-chains that are being highly criticized for their working conditions. The protests started a few weeks ago and have grown to a major action this week.

Pharmacists are urgently calling for the Government to approve controversial 'horse de-wormer' drug ivermectin to treat a mite infection of the skin amid reports of rising cases and widespread treatment shortages. The highly contagious condition, scabies, causes intense itching, a raised rash and is easily spread in close contact with others. There has been a spike in outbreaks over the past year, particularly among the elderly in care homes and young adults at university. Experts now warn some cases are becoming harder to treat. High Street chemists say that the main drugs used for the skin condition – creams which...

Nine pharmacists were charged in three separate indictments unsealed last week for their alleged participation in a $12.1 million health care fraud scheme executed in Detroit and southern Ohio.Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Chicago Region and Special Agent in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office made the announcement.Auday Maki, 66, of Northville, Michigan, was charged with three...

April 17 (UPI) -- In one of the largest federal crackdowns on opioids yet, prosecutors said in an indictment Wednesday investigators uncovered a vast illegal prescription scheme in which physicians traded painkillers for sex and money. The federal indictment involves 350,000 illegal prescriptions in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia. "That is the equivalent of one opioid dose for every man, woman and child in the five states in the region that we've been targeting," Brian Benczkowski, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department, told The Washington Post. "If these medical professionals behave like drug dealers, you can rest...

What Can Happen When Doctors and Pharmacists Do Not Track Their Patient's Prescriptions copy The Iowa Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) is designed to provide patient specific prescription data to individuals authorized by Iowa Code (IC) section 124.553(1)(a) and 657 Iowa Administrative Code (IAC) Chapter 37. A prescriber or pharmacist is authorized to request a Patient Rx History Report on an individual only if: (a.) The request is for the purpose of providing medical treatment or pharmaceutical services; and, (b.) The prescriber or pharmacist has a current practitioner-patient relationship or is initiating a practitioner-patient relationship with the individual named in the...

The US Supreme Court today denied to hear a case involving pharmacists in Washington state who, for religious reasons, declined to dispense RU-486Plan B, the “morning-after pill,” which causes abortion. Effectively this means that Christian pharmacists who refuse to sell drugs that intend to exterminate life in the womb cannot work in the new society. More: The Supreme Court will not review Washington state’s requirement that pharmacies dispense emergency contraceptives to women, prompting a complaint from conservative justices that it was an “ominous sign” for religious liberty. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a sharp dissent Tuesday to the court’s...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Kristen K. Waggoner, lead counsel representing a pharmacy owner and two pharmacists opposed to Washington state regulations that would force them to dispense drugs that can terminate human life after conception, will be available for media interviews Thursday following oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. “No one should be forced to choose between their religious convictions and their family-owned businesses and livelihoods. This choice is neither necessary nor constitutional,” said Waggoner, senior vice president of legal services for Alliance Defending Freedom and counsel with Seattle-based Ellis, Li & McKinstry PLLC. “The...

COLUMBUS, Ohio, —In the wake of the mushrooming IRS scandal, it was learned today that the widening circle of pro-life leadership hit with attempted harassment and intimidation by the IRS has included at least two members of the officers and board members of Pharmacists For Life International (PFLI). PFLI disclosed today that at least two of its officers and board members have been subjected to ongoing harassment and intimidation attempts by the IRS through continued and costly nuisance audits and threatening letters over a period of months and years. The two, who are not being identified at present, have generally...

This afternoon, less than two weeks before the start of a civil rights trial in Tacoma federal court, attorneys for the State of Washington told a federal judge that the State would seek to create new rules for pharmacists with conscientious objections. The new regulations would give the plaintiffs in the lawsuit–the owners of Ralph’s Thriftway pharmacy and two pharmacists–what they’ve wanted all along: the right to refuse to stock or dispense Plan B (the so-called “morning after pill”) based on their conscientious objection.This is an enormous about-face for the State, which has for several years maintained that it had...

Live in Washington State? In a crisis? Suicidal? Call 911. Then what? A dispatcher sends crisis negotiators who, if they follow the suggestions provided at a recent negotiators' training session, could help you consider "all options." If you're eligible, you may be referred to friendly volunteers who will help you find a doctor willing to prescribe a deadly drug overdose. Just take the prescription to a pharmacy. Have it filled by a pharmacist who hands it to you with instructions to "take this with a light snack and alcohol to cause death." But what if the pharmacy has opted out...

Hackers last week broke into a Virginia state Web site used by pharmacists to track prescription drug abuse. They deleted records on more than 8 million patients and replaced the site's homepage with a ransom note demanding $10 million for the return of the records, according to a posting on Wikileaks.org, an online clearinghouse for leaked documents. Wikileaks reports that the Web site for the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program was defaced last week with a message claiming that the database of prescriptions had been bundled into an encrypted, password-protected file.

Illinois pharmacists who object to dispensing emergency contraception won another day in court to fight a rule they claim forces them to choose between their livelihood and conscience. The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday said the circuit court must consider a lawsuit brought by two pharmacists who claim they should not be required to dispense emergency contraception because it violates their religious beliefs. Lower courts had dismissed those claims and refused to hear the case. Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2005 issued a rule prohibiting pharmacies from turning away women seeking emergency contraception, sometimes called the morning-after pill.

A pair of married contract pharmacists at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga persuaded their boss that they should be paid for working 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- and the boss agreed, according to court testimony Monday during the couple's preliminary hearing.

City: Sacramento, CA Two closely-watched cases involving the conscientious rights of doctors and pharmacists have been scheduled for argument within the next few weeks. Pacific Justice Institute filed an amicus brief last week with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, where pharmacists are seeking protection from a Washington law requiring them to dispense the "Plan B" abortifacient drug. A lower federal court ruled in favor of the pharmacists, allowing them to refer patients to other pharmacists who do not have moral objections to selling the drugs. The court cited a lack of...

Federal Appeals Court Okays Injunction Protecting Pro-Life Pharmacists Los Angeles, CA -- A federal appeals court has upheld an injunction in a lower court ruling that halted a new state requirement forcing pharmacists to fill prescriptions for all drugs. The mandate included drugs that would violate their moral or religious beliefs of pharmacists who don't want to be involved in abortions. Washington state pharmacists who are pro-life were worried they could be forced to dispense the morning after pill or birth control drugs.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that pharmacists have a right to use conscientious objection to avoid dispensing emergency contraception or euthanasia drugs — and told them they should also inform patients of the ethical implications of using such drugs.Benedict told a gathering of Catholic pharmacists that conscientious objection was a right that must be recognized by the pharmaceutical profession."Pharmacists must seek to raise people's awareness so that all human beings are protected from conception to natural death, and so that medicines truly play a therapeutic role," Benedict said.Benedict said conscientious objector status would "enable them not...

Muslim medical students get picky   Daniel Foggo and Abul Taher   Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs. Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity. A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of...

Explicitly prohibits not filling prescription "due to sincerely held moral, philosophical or religious beliefs” By John Jalsevac TRENTON, N.J., June 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A bill passed yesterday by the New Jersey legislature requires pharmacists to fill all prescriptions, even if doing so violates the religious or personal beliefs of the pharmacist. The bill passed with a vote of 56-18. Currently it only awaits the signature of Gov. Jon Corzine in order to become law, as it was already passed by the Senate last June.The official text of the bill reads: “A pharmacy practice site has a duty to properly...