[news] BCCLA Attacks Surrey By-law That Would Reveal Personal Medical Information

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British Columbia Civil Liberties Association

BCCLA ATTACKS SURREY BY-LAW THAT WOULD REVEAL PERSONAL MEDICAL
INFORMATION

March 10, 2003
For immediate Release

The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) has gone on the attack against
a by-law to be voted on by Surrey City Council tonight. The by-law will
require pharmacists to keep lists of patients' methadone records,
including dosages, doctors' prescriptions and make them available to
police [CHECK WITH BYLAW].

"This is probably the most private and sensitive of all personal
information and the City of Surrey is proposing to hand it out like
candy," said BCCLA President John Dixon. "Pharmacists will be caught
between this by-law requiring them to make lists, check them twice and
hand them over to the police, and the College of Pharmacists, their
governing legislation and Code of Ethics telling them they can't release
it. It makes no sense whatsoever for the City of Surrey to do this."


The proposed bylaw is the latest in a series of attacks on pharmacies
supplying methadone to recovering drug addicts in Surrey. The City has
imposed a 5000 percent business license fee increase on the pharmacies
dispensing methadone in the Whalley area. A number of the pharmacies are
 challenging that by-law in court.

"Clearly the Mayor of Surrey is hoping to get rid of these pharmacists and
the patients they serve," Dixon said. "There is obviously a serious drug
and crime problem in Whalley, but this isn't the way to go about dealing
with it."


The BCCLA has written to the Mayor of Surrey to outline its many concerns
with this by-law, as have a number of other concerned groups, including
the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA). The provincial
Information and Privacy Commissioner has begun an investigation into the
 Surrey by-law and similar ones in other municipalities.
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BCCLA: www.bccla.org
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Murray Mollard, Executive Director
Vincent Gogolek, Policy Director
425 ­ 815 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 1B4
Phone: (604) 687-3013
E-mail: info at bccla.org