OK LAW WOULD GIVE PHARMACY BOARD MORE CLOUT

Legislation recently introduced in the Oklahoma House ofRepresentatives would give the state?s pharmacy board thelegal authority to enforce alternative sanctions on pharmacists,beyond revoking a license or imposing a fine.

The issue surfaced when the board ordered a pharmacistwho was impaired to contract with an organization thathelps pharmacists suffering from chemical dependency,Oklahoma Pharmacists Helping Pharmacists. The pharmacist?slawyer, however, argued that the board lacked theauthority to enforce the order.

"The [state pharmacy] board has always had the right to doother things," noted its executive director, Bryan Potter, whoadded that the legislation represents a clarification, ratherthan an expansion, of the board's authority.

The bill (HB 2764) has been approved in subcommittee andnow moves to the Oklahoma House Committee on Health.