Chain pharmacy lauds Obama administration's plan to curb Rx diversion, misuse
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced on Friday that it sent a letter to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in support of the administration's strategy to prevent and reduce prescription drug diversion and misuse. Last month, the administration released its report, "Epidemic: Responding to America's Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis," detailing its policy recommendations.
"We appreciate the Obama administration's recently released plan for responding to the current prescription drug abuse crisis, and would like to voice our support for the administration's plan," NACDS wrote. The letter emphasized the highly beneficial uses of prescription medications, and highlighted ways in which pharmacists partner with patients to assist them with the appropriate use of prescription medications, and to help them adhere to their medication therapies.
"Pharmacists are uniquely qualified to provide medication therapy management services to patients, which help ensure that patients are prescribed the correct medications and that they are taking them properly," NACDS wrote.
In addition to providing patient care, chain pharmacies also partner with law enforcement and participate in state-run prescription drug monitoring programs, which work to help reduce prescription drug diversion and "doctor shopping" — seeking prescriptions from multiple physicians at the same time.
"We support the administration's plans to enhance and increase utilization of these [PMP] programs among prescribers and to provide federal, state and local officials with the resources they need to utilize these tools to the maximum benefit," NACDS wrote.
NACDS emphasized the importance of protecting patient health and safety and the security of the prescription drug supply chain by maintaining a separation between prescription drug dispensing locations and drug take-back locations. NACDS expressed its prior support for a Drug Enforcement Administration-sanctioned prescription mail-back program.
Along with providing pharmacy's support for the administration's strategy to combat and prevent prescription drug diversion and misuse, NACDS indicated that it also used the comment letter to thank the Food and Drug Administration for its step-wise approach to its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for opioids, which incorporated pharmacy's concerns.