In the final days of this year\u2019s legislative session, Idaho lawmakers passed a bill to allow pharmacies to sell ivermectin over the counter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soon after, a pharmacy owned by the bill\u2019s sponsor began selling the drug.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dubbed a \u201cwonder drug\u201d for its ability to treat a wide range of parasitic infections, ivermectin gained a following during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some claiming it could treat the respiratory virus.<\/p>\n
To the extent that studies have found that ivermectin actually was effective against COVID-19, it was only in large enough doses that would cause serious side effects in humans, David Pate, the former president and CEO of St. Luke\u2019s Health System, told the Idaho Statesman in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right-wing influencers advertise that it can cure a host of ills, even though the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug for use beyond its original anti-parasitic properties, The New York Times reported in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taking the drug has become an indicator of distrust in pharmaceutical companies and medical expertise \u2014 an \u201cenduring pharmacological MAGA hat,\u201d the Times wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rep. Jordan Redman, a Coeur d\u2019Alene Republican who owns Medicine Man Prairie Pharmacy in Hayden, disclosed \u2014 as required \u2014 in a committee hearing and on the House floor that as a pharmacy owner, he had a conflict of interest in sponsoring and voting on the legislation.<\/p>\n
But after lawmakers make these declarations, known as Rule 80 in the House and Rule 39 in the Senate, they are still free to vote on the bills in question unless they volunteer to abstain.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers are required only to state that they have a conflict of interest, but not to divulge the exact nature of the conflict, House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, a Boise Democrat and attorney, previously told the Statesman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s actually very little disclosure around it,\u201d she said. \u201cThe public doesn\u2019t really get a lot of insight into what exactly the conflict is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redman told the Statesman in April that the issue hit his radar because he received \u201ca ton of emails\u201d from constituents who wanted to see ivermectin available over the counter, without a prescription required.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was late in the session, and we had already shut down the House committees, so I just ran a personal bill, just getting it out there, signaling that, you know, maybe next year, we pick this up,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But House and Senate leaders were enthusiastic and wanted to push the bill through this year, he said, and it moved through both Republican-dominated chambers in little more than a day.<\/p>\n
He said he wanted to increase Idahoans\u2019 access to the drug, especially in rural parts of the state where doctors are scarce and prescriptions can be hard to come by. Idahoans are taking the drug anyway, he said, and many are using a version from animal feed stores intended for deworming livestock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That kind doesn\u2019t come with any information about human dosages or recommended uses \u2014 because it isn\u2019t intended for their use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201cbiggest issue\u201d right now, he said, is that \u201cwe know that Idahoans are taking it \u2014 so having them have a conversation\u201d with a pharmacist \u201cis probably a better solution long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Pharmacists Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, along with groups such as the American Medical Association, have opposed the use of ivermectin to treat COVID except in clinical trials.<\/p>\n
Tennessee and Arkansas have also passed laws that make ivermectin available over the counter, while 15 others states are considering it.<\/p>\n
Redman said he was asked to sponsor the bill because he had “a little more understanding about what we were doing.”<\/p>\n
It’s not about money, Redman said, and “no one is getting rich” selling ivermectin. He considers it a safety issue.<\/p>\n
“People want access to this,” he said. “We’re providing safe access to this.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the final days of this year\u2019s legislative session, Idaho lawmakers passed a bill to allow pharmacies to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,243],"class_list":{"0":"post-11729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}