Behind Every Prescription is a Person
Have you ever gone to a Marin pharmacy to pick up a life-saving medication, only to be shamed by the person at the counter, told you shouldn’t still be on that drug, or made to feel like a burden? If you’re taking buprenorphine, suboxone, or another medication for addiction treatment (MAT), this may sound all too familiar.
On the other hand, if your pharmacy is supportive, you likely value that partnership – it makes picking up refills on time easier and helps prevent withdrawal, which can put recovery at risk.
Alex, an OD Free Marin volunteer and an Intervention, Treatment, and Recovery (ITR) Action Team member, shares in this linked video why having a supportive pharmacy partner is so critical for patients on these medications.
What is the Superhero Pharmacy Initiative?
A subgroup of our ITR Action Team is now making in-person visits to pharmacies to invite participation in our new Superhero Pharmacy Initiative. The goal is to counter unconscious bias and misinformation by educating all pharmacy staff about the fundamentals of how and why these medications actually save lives, how to have more supportive interactions with patients, and how to collaborate with Marin Public Health and OD Free Marin to support access to needed help. The real strength of this project comes from our volunteers – community members with diverse professional and lived experiences, who designed and continue to shape this program. We’re especially fortunate to have a pharmacist on the team.
We hope their “boots on the ground” dedication to recovery inspires you to help reduce stigma around medications for addiction treatment in your own community. You can:
- Share the Superhero Pharmacy Initiative videos and resources on our website.
- Have supportive conversations with people using these medications.
- Normalize the critical benefits of continuing treatment (the standard of care is at least 180 days).
- Model empathy and speak up when you hear misinformation or stigma expressed.
You’re also invited to get more involved: sign up to join our working group if you can help with pharmacy visits, share feedback about how MAT is going at specific pharmacies, or send other ideas for improving the pharmacy experience to info@odfreemarin.org. And if you can commit to regular meetings and projects related to overdose prevention (and aren’t already on an Action Team), we’d love to have you join us.
