Pharmacists will be punished for dispensing medicines without prescriptions

Pharmacies will be responsible for the growth of drug addiction in the country

Despite the fact that many of our medicines are prescription drugs, it is not a problem to buy them without a prescription in Russia. They have been trying to restore order in this “clearing” for a long time, but so far they have not achieved much success. And now a fresh initiative was born: it is proposed to fine pharmacists and pharmacists for selling prescription drugs without a doctor’s prescription. First of all, those that are subject to subject-quantitative accounting (psychoactive). The goal is good – the fight against drug addiction. A draft law on this topic has been submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. How effective this measure will be, understood “MK”.

According to the authors of the legislative initiative, the document will fight against drug addiction or, as it is called, polydrug addiction. Over the past 5 years alone, the number of administrative offenses related to the sale of medicines without prescriptions has increased by 22% in the country, which indicates the ineffectiveness of existing measures, the authors of the new initiative believe. And since 2010, the number of people with addiction to new potentially dangerous substances and with polydrug addiction has increased by 2.5 times, and with addiction to psychoactive drugs – by 3 times. First of all, this problem is relevant for teenagers. Medicines with pregabalin, tapentadol, tropicamidolm, etc., which are not included in the list of poisonous and potent drugs and do not contain either narcotic or psychotropic substances, are in great demand among drug addicts. Nevertheless, their use without a doctor’s prescription causes both drug intoxication and persistent addiction. And although de jure they must be dispensed with a prescription, de facto they can be bought without it.

According to the draft of the new law, the punishment for over-the-counter dispensing of drugs with a psychoactive effect, which are subject to quantitative accounting and can cause addiction, will be tougher and will affect not only legal entities, but also those who directly violate the rules, that is, pharmacists and pharmacists. The calculation is as follows: afraid of fines of 10-20 thousand rubles or a ban on working in pharmacies for a period of six months to a year, pharmacy employees will not take risks and sell them without a prescription. Administrative measures will also be tightened for the administration of pharmacy institutions – for individual entrepreneurs it is proposed to introduce fines of 50-100 thousand rubles, and for legal entities – from 150 thousand to 200 thousand rubles

Meanwhile, market experts strongly doubt that the proposed mechanism will work. The document has already made a splash in professional chat rooms. Pharmacists and representatives of pharmacies are amazed at the short-sightedness of legislators. Here are just a few of their reviews. “Where are the doctors who write prescriptions? Or will a piece of paper with a doctor’s seal be considered a prescription? Maybe for a start, print prescription forms, give them to doctors, teach the latter to correctly write out prescriptions indicating doses and the number of tablets or ampoules? “Why do patients make a scandal over an incorrectly written prescription in a pharmacy, and not in the doctor’s office or the head of the polyclinic?” “These State Duma deputies would be brought on an excursion to the clinic of an average Russian city with a population of 200,000-300,000 inhabitants. To plunge into reality. “Doesn’t it seem strange to you that an experiment on the remote sale of prescription drugs and tougher liability for the sale of drugs without a prescription in pharmacies will start on March 1? Lobbying the interests of online sellers? “That’s not how it started. First, doctors must be “forced” to write prescriptions and fined”

As the director of the SRO Association of Independent Pharmacies, the head of the Alliance of Pharmaceutical Associations, pharmacist Viktoria Presnyakova, told MK, the reasons that led to such a legislative initiative are convincingly described in the explanatory note to it: “But perhaps it will be more effective to develop the practice of applying existing norms than endlessly produce new ones. Let’s start with the fact that prescription drugs are now a licensing requirement for pharmaceutical activities. And liability for violation of these requirements is already provided for by the compositions in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

In order to qualify the sale of a prescription drug without a prescription as a gross violation, it is necessary to identify and indicate the consequences that the actions of the pharmacist entailed: the emergence of a threat of harm to life, health, causing serious harm to health, etc. In general, the fight against drug addiction by introducing new fines for pharmacists will not solve a problem that lies much deeper. Unscrupulous pharmacies should be dealt with by existing legislation, which allows, in addition to fines, to cancel licenses. Conscientious pharmacies comply with the rules for dispensing drugs from the PKU list (subject-quantitative accounting).

However, there is another problem that has been repeatedly voiced – this is not the issuance of prescriptions by the medical community. After all, one should not forget that the drugs indicated in the explanatory note are prescribed to various categories of citizens, not only young people. Also, the issue of a minor buyer in a pharmacy has not been resolved, as was done with regard to, for example, the purchase of tobacco and alcohol products by this category of citizens. In addition, the PKU list also contains narcotic and psychotropic drugs, the responsibility for the circulation of which is provided for by other compositions of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Is there really no one else besides pharmacies to punish for the growth of drug addiction in the country?”

In general, experts interviewed by MK called the initiative absurd, which will only complicate the lives of patients and pharmacies, but is unlikely to make any contribution to the fight against drug addiction. One pharmacologist told MK anonymously that such measures would create tension in society and increase the burden on doctors, who are already in short supply, especially in the provinces: “Not all over the country have introduced electronic prescriptions, which will also complicate the situation. You can, after all, do otherwise – just restrict the right of teenagers to buy prescription drugs. And if pharmacists start to be removed from work given the current shortage of personnel, it is not at all clear who will dispense medicines to people.”