Health committee  I'm wondering if we could add it to the education curriculum at the high school level. That's a simple answer. With regard to your first prescription drug, we all know we have to finish amoxicillin. It's an antibiotic; you have to finish it. It's something you learn when you're a

Health committee  What you're alluding to is called an auxiliary label. There are certain requirements, again, implemented by colleges, that are expected. As a standard of practice, a pharmacist is expected to apply that label telling people to finish their antibiotics. Certainly we could come up

Health committee  I think probably the best answer would be to provide standardized disposal techniques and processes. Unfortunately, this would have to be controlled at the college of pharmacists level in each province. Whether or not it's federally mandated—which would be great—it would actually

Health committee  There is monitoring of stock we have purchased for sale but no longer use. That's monitored by the federal government, and we write to Health Canada. There's a log of the destruction of the narcotics that we have purchased for sale, but nobody will govern or control what's brough

Health committee  The identification, to us, is at that point really no big deal. We just want it out of the public's access. We don't try to identify the medication at all. We just destroy it appropriately. Lots of times there are mislabelled bottles and whatnot. Certainly that's another conversa

Health committee  It is fair. The problem with pharmacies over the last decade is that we haven't really sold ourselves well as a profession. But we're certainly more educated—no disrespect to dentists or doctors—in the actual therapeutics and some of the side effects, and seeing diversion at the

Health committee  I think it's a great idea. It poses some challenges, especially for the “as required” medication. As an example, my father has a chronic back condition that flares up every now and then. He's given a narcotic at times that he can use for travel or what not. So I think from a re

Health committee  I think it's absolutely necessary. As practitioners, no matter what profession, it's our responsibility to do no harm and put the patients best interests first. Certainly in Ontario, choosing not to prescribe a medication because you are afraid of misuse or diversion actually i

Health committee  As Carole Bouchard alluded to earlier, those are some of the problems in the Food and Drugs Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act as they stand. We take everything back. It's not just controlled substances; it's all prescription drugs, whether they be over the counter o

Health committee  Regarding the potential to become addicted to an opiate itself, I would point out, first, that an opiate is a derivative of opium. It's the poppy seed originally and then it was obviously chemically produced, and they have different derivatives, the most famous probably being mor

Health committee  I'm a pharmacist. I don't prescribe.

Health committee  I can definitely understand the drug plan issue. As you're aware, it happens on a daily basis with a day supply, so I can relate to what you're saying. Unfortunately, for addiction it doesn't work, because a patient who is diverting a medication will just pay cash. Unfortunately,

Health committee  Yes, exactly. It's an escape from some unfortunate event, even in our own military, with post-traumatic stress, so it's very important that we approach those things with an open mind. As well, what we've done with mental health over the last 10 years has been phenomenal. We don't

Health committee  I would like to think of Ontario as one of the leaders. We have extensive training. If you want to be deemed methadone-certified in Ontario to be a dispenser, it requires a significant amount of training. Being from Newfoundland, I can say that unfortunately in Newfoundland the

Health committee  I want to describe to you situations—just two, unfortunately, due to time constraints—that will give you a better understanding of the type of person or patient we can see on a daily basis at the pharmacy. That way you guys can understand exactly how a pharmacist can make a diffe