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Lakelands
pharmacists mull drug transfer bill
December
29, 2004
By WALLACE
McBRIDE
Index-Journal
senior staff writer
South
Carolina is one of the only states in the nation that does not
allow residents to transfer prescriptions across state lines,
a practice that one legislator hopes to change in
2005.
State Rep. Alan Clemmons has introduced a bill that
would allow an out-of-state pharmacy to transfer a
prescription to a South Carolina pharmacy, which is currently
illegal.
The Myrtle Beach Republican said the bill would
make the cost of prescriptions more competitive, and allow
tourists to transfer prescriptions while visiting South
Carolina.
Thomas Wingard, owner of Wingard’s Pharmacy, said
the bill is almost a non-issue for Greenwood County residents,
though.
“Under the present law we can transfer
non-controlled substances from a home pharmacy to here,” he
said. “Controlled substances we cannot. I can’t even remember
a situation where somebody needed a controlled substance from
out of state.”
The bill would have a greater impact on
communities closer to state lines, he said.
Marvin
Crawford, of Park Pharmacy in Ware Shoals, said the bill would
have to do more than simply allow a patient to transfer a
prescription.
“There would have to be some controls placed
on it,” he said, “because you don’t know who the doctors are
and what the prescription is being used for.”
It’s fairly
easy for a South Carolina pharmacist to check the credentials
of an in-state doctor, he said. State lines make this process
much more complicated and could allow for prescriptions to be
abused.
“We have problems with narcotics now from doctors
supposedly in-state, trying to run down who they are — and if
they actually wrote the prescription,” Crawford said.
“If
someone brings in a prescription from Chicago from an unknown
physician, (the pharmacist) is not going to know the
difference unless he does a great deal of research,” said Dr.
James B. Cook, co-director of Self Regional Healthcare
Emergency Care Center. “Most of the physicians in the area
know us personally, they know what we write and how much we
write. Many of them know our signatures.”
The bill would
require out-of-state prescriptions to be communicated directly
between two pharmacists, and for records to be kept
documenting the cross-state transfer.
“If the procedures
are followed, it won’t open the door for folks to abuse the
process any more than they can now,” Wingard said.
“I think
it would be good for most patients, but the caveat to that is
that it opens the door for a great deal of fraud and abuse,”
Cook said. “But most patients just want to get well, they’re
not out to abuse drugs or anything else.”
The bill
represents the second attempt in as many years to lift
state-line prescription barriers. Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed a
similar bill earlier this month after the Senate attached
regulations requiring training before someone could braid
hair.
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