Media Information / Media Kit

The BC Pharmacy Association was invited to make a submission to B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General as part of the province's engagement process on the impending legalization of cannabis in July 2018. While the government of B.C. is currently looking at feedback on the regulation and sales of recreational marijuana, the Association felt it was important for the government to address two important issues: Limiting illegal retailers of cannabis calling their operations “dispensaries”, and Moving forward to address the issue of safe dispensing of medical cannabis in tandem with...

October 16, 2017 – The community pharmacists of British Columbia applaud the proposed guidelines for prescribing injectable opioid treatments released by the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) this week. The BC Pharmacy Association believes that efforts to stem the tide of the opioid epidemic and overdose deaths in the province need to be innovative, and dispensing medication to treat opioid addiction is an important step in dealing with the current crisis. The BCCSU proposes three models, one of which is a pharmacy-based model that would supervise injections of opioid agonist treatment in a...

Media Release July 12, 2017 – On behalf of all pharmacists in British Columbia, the BC Pharmacy Association is concerned for the ongoing health, well-being and safety of all those affected by the wildfires. Last week, a provincial state of emergency was declared in response to the current wildfire situation. Displaced residents who are running low or need help filling prescriptions can go to any community pharmacy in any town across British Columbia. Pharmacists there can access a patient’s PharmaNet profile, dispense emergency refills or provide an emergency medication without a patient...

Media Release February 15, 2017 -- In November 2013, the BC Pharmacy Association (BCPhA) Board of Directors committed to explore the potential to offer pharmacogenomics testing (PGx testing) in community pharmacies. Consistent with the Association’s mandate, the decision was taken to determine whether community pharmacies could be the natural conduit to making this valuable information available to patients. Since then, the BCPhA has undertaken many activities to advance a commercial launch of a service that would be accessible to Canadians in communities big and small. The primary objective...

Media Release July 18, 2016 -- The BC Pharmacy Association (BCPhA) will expand its pharmacogenomics project to cities across Canada this fall, thanks to significant funding from Green Shield Canada (GSC). The “Genomics for Precision Drug Therapy in the Community Pharmacy” project examines the potential for community pharmacies to provide DNA-specific medication advice in order to optimize drug therapy outcomes for patients. Phase one of the project involved 33 community pharmacists in BC who recruited 200 volunteer patients to provide saliva samples, with funding from BCPhA and Genome BC...