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California Supreme Court says local governments have authority to ban medical pot shops

The Canadian PressMay 6, 2013 13:30
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that cities and counties can ban medical marijuana dispensaries, a decision likely to further diminish the network of storefront pot shops and fuel efforts to have the state regulate the industry. In a unanimous opinion, the court held that California's medical marijuana laws — the nation's first and most liberal — neither prevent local governments from using their land-use powers to zone dispensaries out of existence nor grant authorized users convenient access to the drug.

Spanish police in Europe's largest ever hashish haul

Agence France-PresseMay 6, 2013 11:30
Spanish police have seized 52 tonnes of hashish, a European record, and arrested three people as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking ring, police said Monday. The drugs were found at an industrial warehouse in the southern city of Cordoba stored in 1,700 individual packages which each weighed about 30 kilos, police said in a statement.

Pfizer sells Viagra on its website in a drug industry first

The Canadian PressMay 6, 2013 03:45
TRENTON, N.J. - Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill. In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website.

No longer able to care for autistic son, Ottawa woman gives him to government

The Canadian PressMay 1, 2013 19:16
OTTAWA - An Ottawa mother says she was at her breaking point when she decided to drop off her son at a government office on Tuesday. Amanda Telford says she can no longer care for her son, 19, who has the mental capacity of a two-year-old and is non-verbal. Telford says her son has wandered away from home several times over the last few weeks and she spent Monday at a hospital after he took prescription medication that he wasn't supposed to.

US approves morning-after pill for age 15 and up

Agence France-PresseMay 1, 2013 11:00
US regulators have approved a brand of emergency contraception for those age 15 and up without a prescription, defying a judge's order to make the morning-after pill available to all ages. The decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to allow Plan B One-Step to be sold over the counter to some teens without a doctor's order did not go as far as a federal judge directed last month after a more than decade-long court fight.

CVS Caremark's 1st quarter profit jumps 23 per cent, helped by impact from generic drugs

The Canadian PressMay 1, 2013 08:30
CVS Caremark's first-quarter net income jumped 23 per cent to top Wall Street's expectations, as generic drugs continued to improve profitability even though those prescriptions hurt revenue. Generic drugs, which are cheaper, copycat versions of brand-name medicines, help a drugstore's bottom line because they provide a wider margin between the cost for the pharmacy to purchase the drugs and the reimbursement received. But they hurt drugstore revenue because generics cost less than brand-name drugs.

Pharmacy assistant in small hospital discovered diluted drugs by accident

The Canadian PressApril 30, 2013 18:16
TORONTO - A pharmacy assistant at a small Ontario hospital discovered by accident that chemotherapy drugs administered to 1,200 cancer patients in two provinces were diluted, a legislative committee heard Tuesday. The problem was caught March 20 when a pharmacy assistant at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre doubled-checked the label of a bag containing a mixture of saline and the drug gemcitabine from Marchese Hospital Solutions.

FDA will investigate added caffeine in foods after new caffeinated gum introduced

The Canadian PressApril 29, 2013 19:45
WASHINGTON - Looking for a new way to get that jolt of caffeine energy? Food companies are betting snacks like potato chips, jelly beans and gum with a caffeinated kick could be just the answer. The Food and Drug Administration is closely watching the marketing of these foods and wants to know more about their safety. The FDA said Monday it will look at the foods' effects on children in response to a caffeinated gum introduced this week by Wrigley. Alert Energy Gum promises "the right energy, right now."

EU pharma watchdog issues warning on tetrazepam

Agencia EFEApril 29, 2013 15:16
London, Apr 29 (EFE).- The European Medicines Agency on Monday recommended suspending the marketing of medicines containing tetrazepam in the European Union's 27 member-states due to possible adverse effects on the skin. Tetrazepam, whose best-known brand name is Myolastan, is used above all as a muscle relaxant and for sharp pains from cramps, particularly in the back and neck, but undesirable skin reactions have now been detected.

Senate proposal would subject large compounding pharmacies to stricter federal standards

The Canadian PressApril 29, 2013 08:51
WASHINGTON - Large specialty pharmacies like the one that triggered a deadly meningitis outbreak last year would be subject to federal safety inspections and manufacturing standards, under a new Senate proposal introduced Friday. The draft bill is the first Senate effort to address the recent outbreak tied to contaminated compounded drugs that sickened more than 700 Americans and killed more than 50 others.
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