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Pharmacist support for selling syringes without a prescription to injection drug users in Rhode Island
Josiah D Rich1, Erika G Martin, Grace E Macalino
1Brown Medical School, and The Miriam Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 02906, USA. jrich@lifespan.org
Objective:
To examine pharmacists' attitudes and obstacles to syringe sales to IDUs without prescriptions in Rhode Island, around the time that such sales became legal in the state.
Design:
Self-administered written survey.
Setting:
Rhode Island.
Participants:
400 randomly selected pharmacist members of the Rhode Island Pharmacists Association.
Main Outcome Measures:
Responses to survey items.
Results:
Of the 400 pharmacists contacted, 131 (33%) completed and returned the survey; of these, 101 (77%) were pharmacists who worked in stores that provided direct nonprescription syringe sales to the public. The majority of these 101 pharmacists were willing to sell syringes to a suspected IDU without a prescription (65%), favored providing free sharps containers for disposal (68%), and supported providing pamphlets on safer injection practices (88%). Willingness to sell syringes to IDUs without a prescription was significantly correlated with various beliefs about possible consequences of sales.
Conclusion:
The high level of support for nonprescription syringe sales to IDUs is promising. The correlation between the willingness to sell syringes to IDUs without a prescription and various beliefs suggests that future educational interventions might encourage pharmacists to sell syringes to this population without a prescription to decrease HIV and hepatitis transmission.