The sole purpose of the board that regulates pharmacists in Maine is to “protect the public health and welfare,” according to state law. But in thirteen cases over the last decade the board has jeopardized the public’s health by allowing people with a history of substance abuse and theft to hold a license to dispense drugs at pharmacies across the state.
In one case, the state Board of Pharmacy gave a license to an Auburn man despite concluding in their investigation of his past that he “failed to demonstrate that he is of good moral character and temperate habit, as shown by his habitual substance abuse that has resulted in or is foreseeably likely to result in … performing duties in a manner that endangers the health or safety of the public.”