KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF LIBYAN PHARMACISTS TOWARDS RULES OF PSYCHOTROPIC AND NARCOTIC DRUGS DISPENSING

Psychotropic and narcotic drugs abuse and misuse are among the most growing problems in Libya and worldwide, that is why they must be strictly prescribed and dispensed. Since the pharmacist has the major role in dispensing and controlling psychotropic and narcotic drugs, we aimed in this study to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of the Libyan pharmacists towards psychotropic and narcotic drug dispensing. An online questionnaire was spread using social network groups, the questionnaire included 10 items about the dispensing of psychotropic drugs and demographic information of the responding pharmacists. The purpose of these questions was to find out if certain problems regarding psychotropic drugs dispensing occurred in pharmacy practice and how pharmacists dealt with these problems. The results showed that pharmacists regarding psychotropic and narcotic dispensing without a prescription tended not to break the rules, but they did so regarding the fate of prescription after dispensing. The majority of participating pharmacists tended to neither keep the prescription, nor have a record for dispensed psychotropic medications. From this study it was concluded that pharmacists may have a lack of knowledge and loose of attitude regarding psychotropic dispensing laws. Educational programs and training of pharmacist must be taken into consideration.