PRESCRIPTION TO REFORM METHADONE DISPENSING

The B.C. Pharmacy Association has proposed a new way of paying pharmacists
to dispense methadone to reduce the opportunities for abuse of the
government-funded program.

The association has presented its proposal to the provincial Health
Ministry and expects a response this week, said the organization's
communications director, Judith Chrystal.

The government currently pays pharmacists a flat fee of $105 a month for
each methadone client they serve, plus the cost of mixing the drug compound.

But pharmacists are charging the government a wide range of prices for the
drug, from two cents per milliliter to as much as 50 cents in a few cases,
Chrystal said. The actual costs for mixing the drug is closer to two cents.

In Surrey, some pharmacists were recently found to be offering cash - $10
to $50 -to entice drug addicts to fill their methadone prescriptions at
their drugstores.

"We think some pharmacists may be feeling squeezed by the $105 a month if
they are seeing some patients every day," Chrystal said. "That's the only
explanation we can come up with for why they would do this."

The association commissioned a study last year to examine the actual costs
for pharmacists to deal with methadone patients and has proposed the
government set a maximum fee for drug costs and pay pharmacists for each
patient visit rather than a flat monthly rate.

Chrystal said the change won't increase the cost of the program and it will
make the system fair and more difficult to abuse.

She said the association is opposed to pharmacists paying cash to addicts
for their methadone prescriptions and wants B.C.'s College of Pharmacists
to amend its code of ethics to forbid the "unethical" practice.

Brenda Osmond, deputy registrar of the college, said letters have been sent
to pharmacists asking them to voluntarily stop paying cash for the
prescriptions. Meanwhile, Surrey city council has voted to prohibit the
practice.