Group lobbies to change N.D pharmacy law

I didn't realize that these types of ownership restrictions still existed anywhere in the States. I wish the pharmacists luck, but they are fighting a battle that was lost a long time ago in most jurisdictions.

From the Grand Forks (ND) Herald:
Spencer Clairmont cringed when he saw a television ad a few weeks ago featuring people saying they were surprised that they could buy cheaper prescription drugs in Minnesota or other states than North Dakota.

The ad says a 45-year-old North Dakota law that requires drug stores to be majority-owned by pharmacists is keeping drug prices artificially high. If the state Legislature would overturn the law, it argues, residents would see cheaper prices because stores such as Wal-Mart, Target or grocery stores such as Hugo’s would be allowed to sell prescriptions.

The advertising campaign, which touts Wal-Mart’s $4 prescriptions, is the work of a group called North Dakotans for Affordable Health Care, funded mostly by Wal-Mart and Walgreen’s.

“Their advertisement saying they’re the cheapest doesn’t square with reality,” said the 56-year-old Clairmont. He and his wife, Bev, both pharmacists, own Walhalla Prescription Store in this Pembina County town of about 1,000, 100 miles north of Grand Forks. ...more