Pharmacist cited again for dispensing drugs without prescriptions
A former Summerland pharmacist has been suspended four weeks and fined $1,000 after admitting for a second time to dispensing narcotics and other drugs without prescriptions.
In a decision dated Aug. 31, the College of Pharmacists of B.C. states Dayton Cliff Sobool signed a consent order confirming the allegations against him and accepting his punishment.
Sobool admitted he “provided, dispensed or sold narcotics,” such as morphine and generic Oxycodone, without prescriptions seven times between Sept. 2, 2016, and Feb. 14, 2017, according to the decision. He also admitted to dispensing benzodiazepine sedatives without prescriptions three times between Sept. 14, 2016, and Jan. 3, 2017.
At the time of the infractions, Sobool was working as a locum at Prescription Health Studio in Kelowna, according to the college’s citation.
“This was the second instance where the registrant was found to have dispensed medication, including narcotics, without a written prescription,” the decision noted.
Sobool’s “conduct in this instance, coupled with the breach of a previous undertaking that pertained to that conduct, is consider significant professional misconduct… and justifies a serious penalty.
“The (college’s) inquiry committee therefore considered it appropriate that the disposition be one that serves as a strong deterrent and sends a clear message to both the profession and the public that the college does not tolerate this type of conduct.”
When news of the citation emerged in May, Sobool was working at Summerland Guardian Pharmacy and told The Herald he had committed “procedural errors,” but that none of the drugs had been diverted for unintended purposes.
Sobool has since left Summerland and was most recently practising in Ashcroft, according to the college.
His earlier troubles were concluded in 2011, when Sobool signed an undertaking that committed him to following proper policies, taking additional training and submitting to random inspections of his work for a period of one year.
That undertaking resulted from Sobool’s work at Paragon Pharmacy in Kelowna between July 2007 and November 2010. Two months after Sobool left there, the pharmacy owner contacted the college to raise concerns about “narcotic inventory management, prescription documentation and dispensing,” according to the earlier citation.
Between July 2007 and November 2010, he was employed at Paragon Pharmacy in Kelowna. Two months after Sobool left there, the pharmacy owner contacted the college to raise concerns about “narcotic inventory management, prescription documentation and dispensing,” according to the current citation.