University installs vending machine to peddle drugs directly to students without pharmacist middlemen

Thursday, June 09, 2016 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: prescription vending machines, InstyMeds, college campus

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(NaturalNews) Accessing pharmaceutical drugs at Arizona State University (ASU) will soon be as quick and easy as getting a candy bar, with an "ATM-like" drug vending machine slated for installation at the school's Health Services Building in the coming weeks.

Reports indicate that the 1,500-pound machine, manufactured by Minnesota-based InstyMeds, will dispense all sorts of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications in lieu of the campus pharmacy, which was officially closed.

Instead of having to drive to local pharmacies to pick up their meds, students with special, doctor-issued vouchers and corresponding identification codes will be able to push a few buttons and have their drugs dispensed immediately from a giant box, similar to how DVD movies are obtained from Redbox machines.

Students with verifiable prescription will gain instant doctor approval

According to reports, the machine will be wired over a secure connection that will allow doctors to communicate with it. Students with verifiable prescriptions will be able to gain instant doctor approval for their meds, which have to be picked up within 24 hours of verification.

"This is a great solution for students who want to access their medications right after their appointment," stated Christiana Moore, a health services spokeswoman, to 12 News-TV in Phoenix, as relayed by USA Today.

Big Pharma hopes vending machines will convince more people to take their meds

Though some 100,000 people die every year from prescription drugs, according to data compiled by the Institute of Medicine (IoM), a big concern within the drug industry is that not enough patients are regularly taking their meds.

One of the reasons, the industry claims, is that it's just too inconvenient for some patients to have to drive down the street to one of the dozens of pharmacy chain locations littering the retail corridors to pick up their meds. Vending machines make this apparently tasking duty that much easier.

The InstyMeds company actually uses this as a selling point, pointing to its machines as an easier alternative to, as 12 News-TV puts it, "the inconvenience of going to the pharmacy every month."

"InstyMeds dramatically improves prescription fill rates and reduces the downstream costs associated with patient noncompliance," explains the company in a drier and more corporate tone.

Americans are now so over-drugged that picking up their drugs is just too much work

If having to pick up one's meds from the local pharmacy every month is now too "inconvenient," what does this say about the true health of our nation? Are Americans now so over-drugged that even the act of accessing them is too much work?

So while it is still unnecessarily difficult or even illegal for many Americans to access life-giving medicines like raw milk and medical cannabis, it will soon be easier than ever for America's pharmaceutical junkies to get their next toxic fix.

Because the machines also dispense OTC drugs like pain pills and acid blockers, there is also the potential for abuse by welfare recipients as well. One USA Today commenter who claims to work with an InstyMeds machine, presumably at Florida State University (FSU) where the only other InstyMeds currently in use is located, says:

"It is ... abused by those of Medicaid (welfare) as they use it to get medications that are easily available over the counter, like Tylenol, at considerable expense to the tax paying public, who pays the bills."

Sources for this article include:

http://www.usatoday.com

http://www.azcentral.com

http://www.pharmacytimes.com

http://www.fda.gov