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"These
are potential quite dangerous, certainly they need to be very
properly dispensed and people need to receive detailed professional
advice to use them properly."
Yes Mr. Abbott and that is why there are laws to protect the public.
These laws are at a State level and not in the Commonwealth powers
- so why has this statement been made?
The answer is simple and it reflects the nature of the year for
"official" pharmacy.
2003 has been a year of defence.
Defence against the perils of supermarket style pharmacies.
Defence against the ravages of traditional pharmacy sale lines
going to other outlets by their descheduling from the Poisons
Acts.
Defence against the inroads caused by technology.
And
Defence against a growing unrest from the younger brigade who
are questioning the status quo.
The statement by the Minister is one that closely reflects that
of pharmacy leaders through the years that "pharmaceuticals
are not ordinary items of commerce".
And yet there is a growing trend for stores to reflect supermarkets
in the way they sell pharmacy lines.
A recent visit to "Chemistop" in inner Melbourne revealed
a sad reflection on the "ordinary items of
commerce" tag.
 
.............
Dump bins with
scheduled items on special with no supervision of sales apparent.
Yes
100 Paracetamol tablets, 96 Ibuprofen and the recently down scheduled
antihistamines.
At a time when hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent
to research the value pharmacists give to sales - this type of
approach is not helpful to the case supported by the vast majority
of pharmacists.
What hope
is there for the future as it is known to the practitioners of
today?
Is it any
wonder the young graduates and students of pharmacy are questioning
where their futures lie and are leaving the retail scene in numbers
that are causing the embarrassing "shortage" of registered
pharmacists?
 
Attendance
at a "Quality Use of Medicine" Symposium mid year illustrated
clearly where they are going - to a more challenging professional
environment where they can use their professional knowledge -
at universities, pharmaceutical manufacturers or divisions of
general practice as QUM coordinators.
And the other chestnut that continued to pop up was the use of
technology. The year has ended with a call from the punters to
let it take over if need be and free up the time from dispensing
to a more challenging role of talking with consumers.
 So
we end up with the person we should have started with in the first
place - the consumer.
Let us hope that the consumer might dominate the agenda for 2004
even if the subject areas stay the same.
In the words of Woodrow T Wilson:
"I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph
than
to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail."
All the best to readers for 2004 and may we triumph in doing what
we do not want to fail.
 Rollo
Manning
rollom@bigpond.net.au
08 8942 2101 and 0411 049 872
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