AUBURN – Most local pharmacists still need doctors’ orders to dispense emergency contraceptives, but two are trained to dispense the drugs without a prescription.
“Quite a few in the state have been trained, but we’re still trying to get more pharmacists involved,” said Sara Hayes, a nurse practitioner at Tri-County Health Services in Auburn. “It’s starting slowly.”
Hayes works with two pharmacists from Osco/Shaw’s in Lewiston and Auburn, taking advantage of a year-old state law that allows them to dispense a contraceptive without a doctor’s prescription.
Ron Tolini, of Osco Drug/Shaw’s in Lewiston, and his counterpart in Auburn are both working with Hayes.
“As a prescription, it’s just like any other drug I carry,” Tolini said.
A pharmacist must complete a training session and enter an agreement with a prescriber – a doctor or nurse practitioner – to dispense it, said Anne Head, director of the Maine Office of Licenses and Registration.
“But for that written agreement, the pharmacist cannot dispense it without a prescription in hand,” Head said. “In other words, that agreement is a substitute for the prescription.”
The new law went into effect in July 2004. About 150 pharmacists completed the first training session sponsored by the Maine Pharmacy Association in April.
Maine pharmacies have not followed the lead of national retailer Wal-Mart. That chain has not stocked emergency contraceptives since April 1999, when the company pulled the Prevens brand from its shelves, according to the state Office of Licenses and Registration.
Wal-Mart spokesmen and press people could not be reached for comment this week.
Most pharmacies, including Hannaford, Rite-Aid and CVS, stock the drug and dispense it with a doctor’s prescription. Caren Epstein, corporate spokeswoman for Hannaford, said the company is considering letting individual pharmacists take advantage of Maine’s new law.
“However, if you went into any Hannaford now and asked for it without a written prescription, you would not get it,” Epstein said.
That’s a decision that would have to be made by the vice president of pharmacy and staff, she said.
Pharmacists contacted by the Sun Journal this week declined to comment on how much of the contraceptive they distribute or how often it is prescribed. Tri-County’s Hayes said local pharmacies keep a small supply on hand, distributing one or two prescriptions per month.
“But if they were to have a big run, I think it would be an issue,” Hayes said.
Her Auburn clinic dispenses the drug 40 to 50 times per month, she said.
The drug uses the same medication as regular birth control pills, but in larger doses. Pro-life groups say it stops a fertilized egg from sticking to the uterine wall, causing a chemical abortion.
Hayes doubts that.
“If you’re already pregnant, it won’t change that,” she said. “It simply delays ovulation so the sperm and the egg never meet.”
The treatment is considered to decrease the chances of getting pregnant by 89 percent, Hayes said.
“We dispense it for a little bit of everything,” she said. “We’ve had situations where a woman forgot her regular birth control pills or had a condom break. It’s just a second chance for those women.”
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