Pharmacists face dilemma over dispensing narcotics: provincial board

From the (Corner Brook, NF) Western Star:
Pharmacists in this province are finding themselves in a dilemma over dispensing narcotics like OxyContin, the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board says.

"The dilemma is you don't want to be sucked in by people abusing it," said Don Rowe, secretary-registrar of the board. "You always have to be vigilant looking for potential abuse or signs of it, but at the same time not making a legitimate customer feel like some kind of a criminal just because they have been prescribed a drug like OxyContin or Percocet or whatever."

The "sucking in" hasn't always come from only patients, as the recent conviction of St. John's physician Dr. Sean Buckingham made evident. Last week, Buckingham was convicted of 12 counts of sexual assault, assault and drug trafficking in Newfoundland Supreme Court. Buckingham, who ran a practice on Queen's Road, was found guilty of having provided several former patients with prescription drugs, including OxyContin and Ativan, in return for sexual favours....more