Friday, December 28, 2012

Once Again, "Pharmacy" is Evolving; Pharmacy Isn't Pharmacy Any More


in response to Harold E. Cohen's "Straight Talk" editorial in U.S. Pharmacist, December 2012
Way back in the dark ages, (circa 1940s) pharmacy graduates had to take grueling state board exams to get a license to practice what Professor Cyrus Cox at Rutgers College of Pharmacy called “the ancient and noble art of the apothecary”. Gradually, that hard won training to qualify as such a pharmacist has become worthless; pharmacist duties gradually have been taken over by a new class of health care workers, the “certified licensed technician.” How lovely.
When I was trained as a pharmacist, “compounding” (now a suspect activity) is what we did, and we didn’t kill anyone with questionable complex compounds often with dangerous side effects. Big pharma had not yet co-opted the term “pharmacy,” to use as a cover to promote and sell pharmaceutical industry nostrums that are the fourth leading cause of death in this country.
Continue reading here 

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