Letters to the editor

Holy dispensation

In your hour of need, will the pharmacist withhold his blessing?

Editor, The Times:

I was deeply disturbed to see that the Washington State Board of Pharmacy has decided to endorse a "refuse and refer" policy regarding the distribution of the so-called morning-after pill ["Pharmacists should be able to deny morning-after pill, state board says," Times page one, June 2]. Emergency contraception should be [available] over the counter by now, not facing further restrictions to access.

The board is heading down a slippery slope and I fear what's next: refusing HIV medication because of how [HIV] may have been contracted? Or perhaps not filling smoking-cessation prescriptions because smokers should have known not to start in the first place?

"Timely alternatives" simply don't cut it. Pharmacists are not entitled to be the public's moralist nannies. They provide heath care by distributing medication. If their personal beliefs prevent them providing health care of any kind, they should seek a new profession.

— Elizabeth Donelan, Seattle

Inaccurate conception

One has to wonder if [pharmacists' prerogative] will apply only to women's' contraception, or if, say, a Christian Scientist pharmacist will be able to deny men heart medication or prostate cancer drugs as well. An even application of the proposed law would seem to demand it.

How very clever of the foes of contraception to yet again conveniently confuse emergency contraception with abortion. The two are not related. The "morning-after" pill works when conception has not yet taken place. But it is a time-sensitive medication and delay caused by the proposed convoluted pharmacy rules have the effect of forcing fertility on a woman.

— Eden Rogland, Seattle

The earthly intercessor

"Fire Pharmacy Board" [editorial, June 9] was amazing, coming from a profession that is fighting presently to keep its freedom of the press — a fight I support.

I was the co-owner of a pharmacy for nearly 20 years, married to a man who practiced pharmacy for some 40 years. Why do you suppose a pharmacist must study for five years and then pass an exam? Is it because he or she needs all that time learning to read a prescription and count pills? No, the pharmacist has to become familiar with how medications work and how they affect the human body. Why? Because someone decided long ago that a physician should not examine, prescribe and treat without another health-care professional being involved.

You imply that a pharmacy must stock the morning-after pill. And which other drugs? Is a doctor forced to write such a prescription in the first place? Who verifies that a real emergency exists?

It is not just a matter of firing Pharmacy Board members (and what happens the next time a governor doesn't like the actions of this board?). You are talking about redefining the whole profession of pharmacy.

— Jacqui Walker, Yakima

Scale of indulgences

Gov. Christine Gregoire objects to a proposed regulation allowing individual pharmacists to refuse on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for a drug such as Plan B, a so-called morning-after emergency contraceptive ["Pharmacy Board can be ousted," Local News, June 4.]

Does she also object to allowing doctors to refuse on moral grounds to prescribe Plan B, or to perform abortions? Does she object to allowing nurses to refuse on moral grounds to assist doctors in performing abortions? Are pharmacists and the services they provide somehow distinguishable in this regard from doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals who are already allowed to limit their professional services based on their moral beliefs?

The answer to the last question is "no." I would like the governor to answer the first two questions.

— Darryl Wareham, R.Ph., Mill Creek

Transaction consecrated

Now that the state Board of Pharmacy has decided to advocate for its members to not do their jobs, I'd like to make a proposal to close that annoying loophole. With almost everything under the sun available via vending machines, it's time to automate pharmacies. Your doctor gives you a single-use card and a PIN number, you go to the automated pill teller (available 24 hours a day), insert the card and get your prescription.

The machine can be programmed with drug-interaction algorithms to ensure you won't be dead 30 minutes later. Otherwise, all it cares about is identifying you and getting paid.

When most of us regular working people tell our customers we don't feel like doing our jobs today, we get fired. Pharmacists: If you have a moral issue with any patient's medical choice, please leave the profession — you are not needed anymore.

— Brian Richardson, North Seattle

Taking initiative

We didn't sign up for this

Why does anyone marvel at the angry apathy our younger generations feel toward Washington politicians? In yet another debacle that will sour attitudes toward our government, the voting public passes Tim Eyman's 1-percent tax initiative by a landslide — then it's abolished because it's "deceptive." Baloney! ["Judge overturns Eyman initiative on property tax," Local News, June 14.]

Eyman represents the thinking masses in this state, obviously, so why is Olympia turning a deaf ear toward his/our overwhelming sentiment toward such initiatives? More specifically, how can a wildly popular tax issue go through months and years of preparations, win convincingly, then be ruled illegal?

If this is becoming the norm, then what a monumental waste of time trudging to the polls has become!

No way should a grass-roots public initiative be allowed onto a formal ballot — unless it's first stamped as completely legal. All the work and emotion the public puts into these initiatives should be honored and admired in the Olympia Dome, not shrugged off and discarded. We wouldn't have had to go to all the trouble, had "our" politicians listened to us in the first place.

We the people don't speak loudly too often, but when we do, it's usually in the form of landslide victories for initiatives we've been forced to sponsor. Washington politicians would do well to take our silent outrage more seriously.

— Thomas Beaudin, Mill Creek

Extra credit assignment

In the wake of I-747's ruling as being unconstitutional, Seattle school closures must be re-evaluated. The decision added $500 million to the city's budget, providing the funds required to educate our children.

— Jacob Norbe, Seattle

Hasta la vista, baby

The governegator

Well well, so King County Elections Director Dean Logan is off to L.A. to count votes there.

Arnold is doomed!

— Phil Bate, Lynnwood