Author: Peter

There's a very common drug-policy talking point that's meant to convey the absurdity of the war on drugs: Alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana, even though alcohol is legal and marijuana is not…Perhaps the biggest supporting evidence for this point is a 2010 study published in The Lancet that ranked alcohol as the most dangerous drug in the United Kingdom… Although drug policy experts generally don't dispute the assertion that alcohol is more dangerous than pot, the study, led by…David Nutt, is quite controversial. Experts see the rankings as deeply flawed, largely because they present the harms that come from drugs in a rather crude, one-dimensional manner. Even Nutt has acknowledged that the study is imperfect…There probably isn't a perfect way to evaluate and present all drug harms. Researchers will always need to balance making information simple and accessible for policymakers and the public with the inherent complexity of drugs and their effects. This makes the task of building scientific drug policies very challenging…The analysis may be flawed, but its simplicity and accessibility have won over many policy circles.

Three Southern Nevada physicians were taken off regulatory probation Friday, including a Las Vegas orthopedic surgeon accused of throwing drug-fueled sex parties at his Henderson home and at the Trump Hotel…Dr. Andrew Martin declined to answer any questions after his appearance before the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners at the Westgate…The board also lifted probation for Dr. Sean Su, a family practitioner barred by the board from performing cosmetic procedures, and Dr. Arlyn Valencia, a neurologist who failed drug tests.

Regardless of whether you decide to pursue postgraduate training, you will be required to submit curriculum vitae at some point during your pharmacy career…Free CV templates are available online and in software packages, but what’s missing from a lot of these templates is advice on what to fill in those little boxes…Serving on a residency advisory committee, I see hundreds of residency application annually, and certain CVs stand out from the rest. I practice in an urban teaching hospital, so the advice and comments I give will mostly pertain to the traditional institutional clinical residency…All applications for PGY-1 programs accredited by the American Society for Health-System Pharmacists are processed through the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service system. PhORCAS is an electronic-based tool that conforms and limits what applicants can send to programs… The 2 most important components are the applicant’s CV and letter of intent. This article will focus on how you can wow the programs with your “life story.”

• Education
• Licensure
• Employment
• Training/Professional Experience
• Projects/Presentations
• Honors and Awards/Leadership
• Miscellaneous/Additional Skills
• Other Notes

Each program and each preceptor will place preference on different aspects of your CV. For me, the top 2 things I look for on an applicant’s CV are:
1. Research projects or presentations.
2. Teaching, tutoring, or lecturing experience.
3. Pharmacy work experience.

Good luck to all candidates!

Carlos Aquino, founder and president of PharmaDiversion LLC, talks about what happens to a pharmacy if it is found to be out of compliance with DEA regulations or federal statutes.

Kids and teens who take prescription medicines to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder may be twice as likely to be bullied as their peers who don’t have this mental health problem… Adolescents who sold their prescribed drugs to other kids – who might want the stimulants for study or diet aids – had more than four times greater odds of being bullied than their peers without ADHD…Our findings show that there is some connection between a prescription for stimulant medications and bullying, even after accounting for the fact that adolescents with ADHD may have difficulties with peers or may have other problem behaviors associated with victimization…

The news that UnitedHealth Group is considering leaving the new health insurance marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act has prompted some concern about the their long-term viability...United Health Group’s possible departure is not really the issue. The insurer was a minor player in the individual market before the ACA passed, and currently covers only about 5 percent of marketplace enrollees…together with a few other developments, such as the failure of COOPs, the UnitedHealth Group announcement raised the fundamental question of whether the ACA marketplaces are enrolling sufficient numbers of people to ensure a well-balanced risk pool of healthy people and those with health problems. A pool where a majority of people have health problems could lead to higher premiums over time and destabilize marketplaces.

Uruguayans will be able to choose from three varieties of state-sanctioned cannabis when marijuana starts being sold in pharmacies in the small South American country next year…Each variety will have different levels of...tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol..."There will be three options with indications about the effects of each that point beginners toward starting with the lowest level" of THC...Uruguay became the first country to legalize the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in late 2013, aiming to wrest control of the trade from gangs while regulating and taxing its consumption…Authorities have developed traceable, genetically-distinct plants to ensure they do not leave Uruguay's borders or end up on the black market…The government estimates registered marijuana users will be able to buy the drug from pharmacies in mid-2016, when the country's two licensed producers start selling their first commercial load of about four tonnes…Authorities are also working with companies interested in exploring the possibility of exporting medical marijuana to the United States and Europe...

Stanford University Hoover Institution's Tim Kane, Princeton Economics Professor Alan Krueger and Bloomberg Intelligence's Asthika Goonewardene discuss pharmaceutical company deals and the possible impact on U.S. jobs.

You received a good education in pharmacy school. You studied chemistry, biology, pharmacology—the whole nine yards…This was good enough to help you pass your pharmacy boards, even get you a job. But now, you want to reboot your pharmacy, perhaps even create a dream pharmacy…How well did your pharmacy education prepare you for that?...You want to open your own pharmacy, but you don’t have the business education to determine which choices are right and which ones are not…what did they teach you about entrepreneurship and leadership, strategies and marketing, or even the necessary elements of a profit and loss statement and other financial reports?...However, pharmacy schools need to keep up with the demands of the marketplace…Entrepreneurship and leadership can be taught. So can strategies, team building, and marketing…When they’re not taught, the learning process is usually from the “school of hard knocks,” which is often far too expensive, and sometimes can be drastically misleading…

...drug disposal is expensive — the Nebraska program spends $10 per pound to ship and destroy medication — and some states and municipalities want drug companies to pick up the tab…Six municipalities in California require drugmakers to pay for take-backs. Nine states...have considered similar measures...Proponents say these laws, which are similar to programs that require manufacturers to pay for electronics recycling, would make it easier for patients to dispose of prescriptions. But drugmakers oppose the local mandates and warn that disposal costs could be passed on to patients through higher drug prices…Alameda County in California was the first jurisdiction to pass a law requiring manufacturers to pay for take-backs, in 2012, though the industry was quick to file suit, arguing it violated the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Alameda law was upheld this year when the Supreme Court refused to hear the industry’s appeal…Drugmakers would rather lead their own take-back programs than comply with local or state mandates, said Priscilla VanderVeer, of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America...Because drugmakers sell across the country, meeting the customized disposal requirements of local programs is complicated...There are also more effective ways to get rid of the medicines, she said, like at-home disposal or returning unwanted drugs using special envelopes with carbon lining…“That’s just a financial and logistical nightmare for something that’s not necessarily going to be effective, or secure or environmentally helpful,” she said.