About to hit the road for Sacramento, so this will be a quick update.
1. Our cause has been picked up by The Press Democrat, the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper of the North Bay. You can read it here. If there's a paywall, you can read the whole thing in our post on Instagram: @volunteerfirefoundation
2. The California State Board of Pharmacy vote is TODAY. Meeting starts at 11 and public comment will run into the afternoon. We need as many voices as humanly possible. All the call-in info and necessary talking points are here.
Firefighter comments have shut down this Board's vote before – twice – and we need to do it again today.
This is the Board's last chance to pass these deeply harmful regulations. If they can't approve them, the one-year shot clock on the rulemaking process expires and they'll have to start the whole process over. (That's what we want.)
Remember: We're not concerned that we might lose access to nebulized glutathione. We already lost access – in 2023.
Since then, the only legal way to do this breathing treatment is in a doctor's presence. But firefighters need to have a fridge full of this stuff so they can nebulize every day, as long as it takes to heal their lungs.
Remember: Nebulized glutathione is safe, explicitly allowable by the FDA, and available in 49 other states. The only reason pharmacists won't fill your prescription is because the Board's staff wrongly punishes every pharmacist who does.
Finally, please know that we're not alone in this fight.
Opponents of these regulations:
California Hospital Association, California Medical Association, California Dermatology Association, California Veterinarian Medicine Association, California Pharmacists Association, Kaiser Permanente, Cedars Sinai, Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, CVS, Walgreens, and others.
Proponents: None.
If the Board passes these regulations in the face of unanimous opposition, we'll continue the fight in the legislature – a whole other field of thorns. Best to lock it down today.
Hope to hear you later.
In solidarity,
Jacqui Jorgeson
Co-founder and Executive Director
Volunteer Fire Foundation