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The College would like to remind pharmacies and pharmacy professionals involved in sterile compounding that the second phase of the Model Standards for Pharmacy Sterile Compounding should be completed by May 2019.

Since the introduction of the new ownership requirements under the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act (PODSA), the College has been collecting information about Direct Owners and Indirect Owners (directors, officers and shareholders) as part of the annual pharmacy license renewal process. 

Up until this point, information about trustees has not been collected, as trustees were not initially considered to be indirect owners and, as such, were not subject to the ownership requirements under PODSA. 

Earlier this year, there was a bit of a buzz on Twitter regarding pharmacies that sell homeopathic products. An Ontario health researcher caused quite a stir, criticizing a pharmacist for recommending a homeopathic product to treat her child’s fever. 

In 2018, Dr. Martin Andresen, Professor of Criminology and Director of the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies at Simon Fraser University, conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the College’s security provisions and found strong evidence supporting the relationship between the reduction in pharmacy robberies and the security measures. 

Pharmacists play an important role in supporting patients in making informed choices about their care. This means that pharmacists can have a role in counselling patients related to cannabis use, including drug interactions, management of side effects, potential addictive behaviours and contraindications. This article provides an overview of medicinal versus recreational cannabis, drug interactions and factors to consider when evaluating patients.