Why are we limiting access to opioid agonist therapies?

Why do pharmacists exist? The answer is simple: for the health and safety of the public. The Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals (SCPP) indicates that pharmacists “shall hold the health and safety of the public to be of first consideration in the practice of [their] profession rendering to each patient the full measure of [their] ability as an essential health care practitioner.”1 Other provincial regulatory bodies have similar statements. Why is it, then, that pharmacies and pharmacists are able to deny patients and communities access to opioid agonist (methadone and/or buprenorphine/naloxone) therapy