No action taken on Olympia pharmacy

The state Board of Pharmacy has closed an investigation into Ralph's Thriftway in Olympia, taking no action about complaints that the pharmacy failed to comply with state pharmacy rules.

Complaints that Ralph's Thriftway refused to stock so-called "Plan B" emergency contraceptives were part of a long and heated controversy over whether pharmacists should be required to fill prescriptions for any medication despite their moral or religious objections.

Earlier this year, the board adopted new rules requiring pharmacies to fill legal prescriptions, while allowing individual pharmacists to opt out. Other rules require pharmacies to stock a representative selection of medications to meet the particular needs of their patients.

Steve Saxe, executive director of the board, said the investigation centered on actions taken before the new rules were adopted.

The board is still investigating complaints received since those rules went into effect, he said, and would take into consideration the number of requests for any medication, as well as the expense to the pharmacy and whether it's reasonable to expect a patient to wait a day or two to get a drug.

"If [a medication] doesn't cost a lot and it's needed right now, then the board needs to take that into consideration," he said.

There has been no resolution to a lawsuit filed in July against the state by Ralph's owners and two pharmacists who work in the store's pharmacy.

It claimed the new regulations violate civil-rights protections of pharmacists with "deeply held religious and moral beliefs."

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249