Demand strong for morning-after pill (in ME where it's OTC)

[MaineDem]

Women have traveled from as far away as Waterville and Bangor during the past four months to visit a little pharmacy in Bar Harbor, the kind of place with a soda fountain and sidewalk benches.

They come to the West End Drug Co. searching for Plan B, an emergency contraceptive pill. Because of a new state law that took effect this year, about 30 pharmacists at 17 stores around the state now provide the contraceptive without requiring a prescription.

Roughly 250 of the state's 1,000 pharmacists have received training to dispense the drug, though many have yet to sign on with a physician, clearing them to do so. The numbers nevertheless show a growing demand for the so-called morning-after pill, pharmacists and health officials said Tuesday.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050810pill.shtml

[rodeodance]

1. good for them.

[rodeodance]

2. they are right--it is only politics that is intervering--nothing related

health issues (although they will conjure up something).


...... "It's been good because from what I've been seeing, in the short time I've been doing this there are a lot of contraceptive failures," said pharmacist Michael Gilfillan, co-owner of West End Drug. He has consulted with a few dozen women since April.

"I've seen a wide spectrum of women," Gilfillan said, "different ages, married, unmarried, many who are looking for a backup to their failed contraception. They have come from as far away as 75 miles."

Gilfillan and others have followed the national debate over so-called morning-after pills. They are awaiting a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruling that could make it even easier to get the drug. The FDA is expected to decide by the end of August whether to allow the sale of morning-after pills over the counter.

In most states, drugs such as Plan B and Preven are available only with a doctor's prescription. The new Maine law allows pharmacists to dispense the drugs if they take special training and sign a collaborative agreement with a physician.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Moderator]

4. rodeodance

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[BiggJawn]

3. My bullshit detector is beeping....

How does the "Strong demand" for Plan "B" compare with the demand for Levitra, Cialis and Viagra?

Do they sell more Plan "B" or Metformin? Thiazide? Ritalin?

"Why, requests for it have increased 500% in the past week!"

"How many sales did you have last week?"

"Uh, one..."

"And five THIS week?"

"Uh, yeah...."

The Dominionists will spin this to try and have us believe that women Down East are just "killing their babies" in DROVES..

I smell sloppy reporting at the best and a Dominionist editorial policy at the worst.

Can't trust the Press anymore.