Prince Albert, Sask., debates if some pharmacies should be banned from dispensing methadone

Can—and should—city councils say pharmacies can’t dispense methadone? It’s an issue up for debate in Prince Albert, Sask., where zoning rules have prevented pharmacies adjacent to residential areas from dispensing the drug since 2018. Pharmacies in other neighbourhoods are allowed to dispense methadone. Pharmacist Amy Lamb, co-chairperson of the YWCA board and CEO of the Indigenous Professional Association of Canada, recently asked city council to reconsider the rules. She said patients have the right to equitable access, including obtaining methadone from their local pharmacy. She also pointed to the benefits of methadone, including lower rates of both violent and non-violent crimes, lower incarceration rates and increased employment—and the fact that it saves the healthcare system tens of thousands of dollars for each person who stops using heroin or fentanyl and switches to the legal drug. “I think there is a perception that this is a clinic, and I tried to explain that this is really just a medication,” Lamb said in an interview after the meeting. Read: Buprenorphine safer than methadone during pregnancy for opioid-use disorder Lamb also argued that since pharmacy is self-regulating, the city might not have the right to control what services pharmacists offer. “Should we as a council say these are the medical procedures that are in a drug store or in any store? Should we be able to do that? I don’t know. Will we be sued?” said one councillor, Dennis Ogrodnick, as reported in paNOW. He also discussed a hypothetical case of whether a city could prevent pharmacists from prescribing drugs, such as birth control. The council agreed to look into it further and seek advice from its solicitor. Mayor Greg Dionne said he doesn’t want the number of pharmacies that offer methadone expanded. “When I went to buy my house, I looked at my neighbourhood. I wanted a convenience store. I wanted a gas station. I’m happy that we have a pharmacy. I didn’t want a methadone clinic." Councillor Blake Edwards, who also works at the local prison, expressed a similar sentiment. “When used properly, methadone and suboxone is a really good program. People function in their day-to-day lives when they can’t when they’re using illegal drugs. . .. I support the program, and maybe there are some areas where it could be closer, but I certainly don’t support it in the middle of a residential area.” Lamb says she was a little disheartened by comments like these and misinformation about how methadone is dispensed. “It became very clear to me that one way or another, there, it’s just the beginning of work that needs to be done to advocate for programs, people and communities that need services." Read: Researchers say alternative to methadone shows promise for those addicted to opioids A previous iteration of this story mistakenly referred to the city of Prince Albert as being in Alberta, when it is, in fact, in Saskatchewan.

Prince Albert, Sask., debates if some pharmacies should be banned from dispensing methadone

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