mmnyc9
03-07-2006, 10:44 PM
Did anyone see this?
Methadone pipeline shut down
Feb. 25, 2006. 08:19 AM
JESSICA LEEDER AND KEVIN DONOVAN
STAFF REPORTERS
A husband-and-wife team of pharmacists has been ordered to shut down a controversial methadone pipeline servicing 2,000 drug addicts across Ontario.
The Ontario College of Pharmacists, which issued the order yesterday, is scrambling to find local pharmacists in a dozen cities and towns to supply the patients before a March 13 deadline. On that day, Kitchener-based pharmacists Wing and Sue Wong must stop shipping boxfuls of medication to a chain of methadone clinics, called Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres (OATC), where the drug is given out by non-pharmacist clinic staffers. The clinics service 4,000 methadone patients; the Wongs supply half of them with the potentially lethal drug.
The Wongs plan to go to court to challenge the order. In a statement issued late yesterday, they claimed the college's order will have "a devastating effect upon thousands of patients, many of whom will be unable to obtain methadone from alternate sources. This is because many ... patients live in remote or isolated areas which do not have community pharmacies that dispense methadone. ..."
A recent Star investigation found that the college has been aware of the shipping scheme since at least 2003, but has been slow to act.
"We are putting the patients first," said deputy college registrar Della Croteau. "When we move to restrict a pharmacist's practice, we must take care of the patients."
College officials believe the Wongs' pipeline is endangering patients. Over the last two years, the Wongs have ignored several college warnings requiring them to stop the practice.
College rules state that, for safety reasons, all drugs must be dispensed to patients in person by licensed pharmacists in accredited pharmacies. Part of a pharmacist's entitlement to payment for dispensing methadone, according to college rules, involves not only measuring out a patient's dosage but counselling him or her each day and watching the patient ingest the narcotic drink.
Methadone pipeline shut down
Feb. 25, 2006. 08:19 AM
JESSICA LEEDER AND KEVIN DONOVAN
STAFF REPORTERS
A husband-and-wife team of pharmacists has been ordered to shut down a controversial methadone pipeline servicing 2,000 drug addicts across Ontario.
The Ontario College of Pharmacists, which issued the order yesterday, is scrambling to find local pharmacists in a dozen cities and towns to supply the patients before a March 13 deadline. On that day, Kitchener-based pharmacists Wing and Sue Wong must stop shipping boxfuls of medication to a chain of methadone clinics, called Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres (OATC), where the drug is given out by non-pharmacist clinic staffers. The clinics service 4,000 methadone patients; the Wongs supply half of them with the potentially lethal drug.
The Wongs plan to go to court to challenge the order. In a statement issued late yesterday, they claimed the college's order will have "a devastating effect upon thousands of patients, many of whom will be unable to obtain methadone from alternate sources. This is because many ... patients live in remote or isolated areas which do not have community pharmacies that dispense methadone. ..."
A recent Star investigation found that the college has been aware of the shipping scheme since at least 2003, but has been slow to act.
"We are putting the patients first," said deputy college registrar Della Croteau. "When we move to restrict a pharmacist's practice, we must take care of the patients."
College officials believe the Wongs' pipeline is endangering patients. Over the last two years, the Wongs have ignored several college warnings requiring them to stop the practice.
College rules state that, for safety reasons, all drugs must be dispensed to patients in person by licensed pharmacists in accredited pharmacies. Part of a pharmacist's entitlement to payment for dispensing methadone, according to college rules, involves not only measuring out a patient's dosage but counselling him or her each day and watching the patient ingest the narcotic drink.