Dear editor,
There has been an outcry of reproach against the College of Pharmacists of BC for suspending Rudy Sanchez’ license as his pharmacy undergoes a thorough investigation of his facilities.
I do not want to offer an opinion specifically on Sanchez and his business, but I am concerned, as every community member should be, when a review of his business by his own peers on more than one occasion (2010 and now) has reflected that Sanchez has overstepped his boundaries as a pharmacist and taken on roles that are outside of his training and purview.
The attitude towards medicine has become one in which buzz words like ‘alternative’ and ‘natural’ have replaced words like ‘third-party review’ and ‘replicable results’.
We need to understand that our life expectancy in Western cultures has been significantly extended by a scientific approach to medicine and health. Our teeth are whiter and healthier because our water is fluoridated. Our children do not die of whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, or smallpox because we vaccinate them. And we benefit from a medical establishment that engages in regular peer-based reviews of anyone who holds a medical license, especially when we consider the amount of emotional power that these professionals wield over the population.
Unconventional practitioners often claim that the medical profession, drug companies, and the government are conspiring to suppress whatever method they espouse. No evidence to support such a theory has ever been demonstrated. It also flies in the face of logic to believe that large numbers of people would oppose the development of treatment methods that might someday help themselves or their loved ones.
I would strongly suggest that those who would want to immediately condemn the College of Pharmacists should look carefully first at the evidence before assuming that this is another example of ‘big business’ attempting to squelch a small potato.
Leslie Johnson
Courtenay