Presto’s Ramblings

Recently, here in Washington State, there has been a great deal of argument of whether a pharmacist should be able to refuse to dispense a drug prescribed by a doctor that they have a moral problem with selling, such as Plan B or birth control pills. Yesterday, the state’s Pharmacy Board accepted Governor Gregoire’s recommendation that pharmacists can refuse, but only if there is another pharmacist in the same store who is willing to fulfill the patient’s request.

Predictably, there has been a great deal of outrage from both sides of this debate. This rule will satisfy no one.

To pro-lifers, this rule will be seen as an empty symbolic gesture, as the drug will be dispensed anyway, only by another pharmacist in the same store. They will also argue, what about small pharmacies with only one pharmacist? He will have to violate his own conscience and dispense the drugs against his will.

I think it is amusing that pharmacists who are enganging in a government controlled restricted market, use free market arguments to defend their position. These drugs can only be dispensed by a government licensed pharmacy. Many of these same pro-life pharmacists would also like to make Plan B illegal entirely, a self-contradicting stance. You either believe in the free market or you don’t.

To pro-choicers, this decision will deny access to legal drugs, and
subject women to humiliating treatment from a judgemental pharmacist,
and in many small towns there may be only one pharmacist to go to. While I agree that these drugs should be widely available, pro-choicers want to take freedom of choice and conscience from the pharmacists. This is also wrong. Having a free market also includes the right not to carry a product.

I have a simple solution. Bring true free-market principles to drug sales. Eliminate the prescription drug system altogether. All drugs should be available over-the-counter. That way, anyone who wishes to stock the drug, including family planning clinics and abortion rights activists, can do so. Anyone who then wishes to refuse to carry the drug may do so without a problem, as then there will be any number of alternate sources who will not have to go to the government for permission.

I already can hear people saying that if the prescription system is eliminated, people will make bad decisions regarding medicines and may get hurt. Such discussion is beyond the scope of this post, but Sheldon Richman at the Future of Freedom Foundation wrote an excellent essay in 1995 called “The Right to Self Treatment.” Check out his excellent reasons as to why that is a bogus argument.

My point here is that everyone, whether pro-choice or pro-life, has a right to decide whether or not to buy or sell any drug. Such choices should be left up to individuals alone, without the interference of the state. The true problem here is the restricted market for medicines.