Health Wellness

Online Pharmacy – Should Pharmacists be Allowed to Prescribe Drugs?

There has been a recent trend in America towards purchasing prescription drugs from Canada. This is no surprise, considering that the same drug from an online pharmacy in Canada could cost up to eighty percent less than its American counterpart. But the process of purchasing drugs online has also led to an increase in unethical practices by certain companies. Some companies claim that pharmacists are just as qualified to prescribe drugs and want to allow pharmacists to prescribe drugs so that they don’t need to wait on a doctor to get a prescription. While it may be true that pharmacists are experts on drugs and drug interactions, there’s a reason why only doctors are allowed to write prescriptions.

If you are buying Evista or other medications from an online Canadian pharmacy, keep in mind there is always a licensed Canadian pharmacist to answer all your questions and concerns.

If people were allowed to simply ask a pharmacist for a quick prescription over the phone or even via e-mail, then the pharmacist would have no real verification that they are treating real symptoms. People could use this situation to trick an online pharmacy into prescribing a medication that the patient doesn’t really need, leading to fraud and, quite likely, a flood of new legislation to regulate online prescriptions. If enough people abuse the system, this could lead to legislation limiting the purchase of online pharmaceuticals, which could hurt people who depend on cheaper Canadian drugs to be able to manage their ailments.

There is really no reason for pharmacists to want to prescribe medications. The reason that they became pharmacists in the first place must have been that they were more interested in the drugs themselves than in the human body. Otherwise, they ought to have become doctors. Ultimately, it is the doctors that are more qualified to write prescriptions, as they have access to more information about each individual patient. A pharmacist in an online pharmacy couldn’t possibly get a full family history before writing a prescription.

Using an online pharmacy is a safe practice because there is a doctor who has to see you face-to-face before prescribing any medication to you. This prevents anyone from abusing the system and ordering drugs to which they should not have access. While pharmacists have a definite role in your healthcare by dispensing drugs to you, there would be unintended consequences if they were suddenly given the authority to write prescriptions themselves. In this regard, it’s probably best that the prescription system requires doctors to see you in person before writing a prescription.