An Idaho pharmacist’s practice can be personally enjoyable, professionally secure, and financially rewarding. Your Idaho pharmacist practice was no gift. You earned it with all you invested in your pharmacy education and licensure. Don’t let the criminal arrest, charge, and conviction you face put your Idaho pharmacist practice at risk. If it must, the Idaho Board of Pharmacy will discipline your pharmacist license to protect customers, the pharmacist profession, and the public, while enforcing Idaho and federal drug laws. If Idaho Board of Pharmacy disciplinary charges threaten your pharmacist license, you can do no better than to retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for our attorneys’ skilled and experienced defense. We are available in Boise City, Meridian, Nampa, Idaho Falls, Caldwell, Montpelier, Coeur d’Alene, Twin Falls, or any other Idaho city or town to help you defend and defeat your Idaho Board of Pharmacy disciplinary charges. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for your best possible disciplinary outcome.
Idaho Pharmacist Criminal Arrests
Idaho has a comparatively low crime rate compared to the national average, right across the board from property crimes like shoplifting and theft to violent crimes like domestic violence and assault, and crimes against the public like drug crimes and drunk driving. Yet, as comparatively low as its crime rate is, Idaho still has tens of thousands of crimes every year. The latest state crime statistics show over 28,000 property crimes, over 28,000 crimes against the public, and over 18,000 crimes against the person in the state each year. Idaho pharmacists have no particular immunity to these general population crimes. Pharmacists everywhere face the same challenges and corruptions as anyone else. See, for example, the sad account of the conviction of a well-known pharmacist for murder by insulin poisoning and for investor fraud. If you face Idaho Board of Pharmacy discipline for a criminal conviction anyone may have committed, get our skilled license defense help. Convictions unrelated to pharmacist practice may offer more grounds for a successful defense.
Idaho Pharmacist Pharmacy Crimes
Idaho pharmacists also, unfortunately, commit crimes induced by their ready access to controlled substances. See, for example, the conviction of an Osburn pharmacist for wire fraud relating to misappropriated controlled substances. See also the convictions of pharmacists across the country for illegal oxycodone distribution, healthcare fraud, kickback scams, pill mill operation, obstruction of justice, infectious disease spread, insurance fraud, dispensing violations, and opioid diversion. The Idaho Board of Pharmacy will not hesitate to discipline for pharmacy-related crimes placing customers at risk or exposing the profession to public distrust. The Idaho Board of Pharmacy invites public complaints against pharmacists and publishes its discipline orders. Retain us to defend your Idaho Board of Pharmacy disciplinary charges related to your criminal issues.
Idaho Pharmacist Licensure Authority
Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1718 authorizes the Idaho Board of Pharmacy to license and regulate pharmacists for practice in the state, including to renew and discipline licenses. The Act’s Section 54-1721 makes the unlicensed pharmacist practice a criminal misdemeanor subject to a $3,000 fine for each offense and, under Idaho Code Section 18-113, jail for up to six months. Losing your pharmacist license to disciplinary charges due to your criminal issues, or being unable to renew your license due to criminal issues, will cause you to lose your pharmacy employment and practice. Don’t suffer those consequences. Let us help you defend and defeat your Idaho Board of Pharmacy disciplinary charges.
Idaho Pharmacist Licensure Requirements
Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1722 states the minimum qualifications for licensure by examination. Those qualifications include earning a pharmacy degree, passing the pharmacy examination, completing 1,740 hours of supervised practice, and making the other submissions the Board of Pharmacy requires. The Act’s Section 54-1726, providing for discipline of pharmacists, further provides, by reference to Section 54-1728, that the Board of Pharmacy may refuse to issue or renew a license for a pharmacist who has committed one of the listed grounds for discipline. Those grounds include conviction for certain crimes or committing certain acts that could also be prosecuted as crimes. Let us help you if you face Idaho Board of Pharmacy license issues over your criminal convictions.
Idaho Pharmacist License Renewals
The Idaho Board of Pharmacy is currently moving pharmacist licensees from the longstanding one-year renewal period to a two-year renewal period. No matter your applicable renewal period, Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1728 provides that the Board of Pharmacy may refuse to renew your license based on any of the enumerated grounds for discipline in Section 54-1726. Those grounds include certain criminal convictions. Your renewal application form will likely require you to disclose your criminal conviction. Let our attorneys help you answer any Board of Pharmacy concerns over your criminal issues at the time that you renew your license. We can also invoke the appropriate procedures to challenge any license renewal denial.
Idaho Pharmacist License Discipline for Crime
Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1726 authorizes the Board of Pharmacy to discipline your license on the listed grounds. Those grounds include these specific criminal convictions:
- crimes Idaho Code Section 67-9411(1) deems relevant to the practice of pharmacy;
- crimes related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a pharmacist; or
- violations of state or federal pharmacy or drug laws.
Idaho Code Section 67-9411(1), referred to in Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1726 on criminal convictions, restricts the Board of Pharmacy from using a conviction to discipline a license unless the conviction “is currently relevant to the person’s fitness to engage” in the profession. Taking these provisions together, the Idaho Board of Pharmacy may only discipline your license for criminal convictions that are either (1) relevant to your practice fitness or (2) violate state or federal drug laws but are still relevant to your practice fitness. We can help you determine whether your conviction qualifies as a potential disciplinary ground. We can also help you defend related disciplinary charges.
Idaho Pharmacy Board Disciplinary Discretion
Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1726 leaves it to the Board of Pharmacy’s discretion whether to discipline your license, even if you committed one of the listed convictions. Section 54-1726 states only that the Board may discipline on the listed grounds, not that the Board must discipline. Idaho Code Section 67-9411(1) lists factors that the Board of Pharmacy must consider when exercising its discretion to discipline or not to discipline. Those factors include:
- the crime’s nature;
- the crime’s seriousness;
- the crime’s relationship to pharmacist duties;
- the passage of time since the crime;
- rehabilitation or treatment the pharmacist completes; and
- any other relevant factor.
Section 67-9411 expressly prohibits the Board of Pharmacy from using “vague or generic terminology related to a criminal conviction,” such as “moral turpitude” or “moral character.” We can advocate the listed factors to make your best defense against disciplinary charges based on a criminal conviction.
Disciplinary Differences Among Specific Crimes
You’ve just seen that Idaho Code Section 67-9411 requires the Idaho Board of Pharmacy to consider the specific conviction you suffered. We may be able to present the following defenses to Board of Pharmacy disciplinary charges, based on the following two categories of crime for which the Idaho Board of Pharmacy may discipline you under the above statutes.
License Discipline Effect of Idaho Pharmacy-Related Crimes
The first category of crime for which the Idaho Board of Pharmacy may discipline you is pharmacy-related crime. Crimes related to the practice of pharmacy may include drug dispensing violations, crimes for the unlawful possession, distribution, or manufacture of controlled substances, crimes for insurance fraud, and dispensing records violations. Your conviction for drunk driving, drunk and disorderly conduct, and similar drug and alcohol crimes may also qualify as relevant to your impaired pharmacy practice. We may be able to defend pharmacy-related charges by showing that your conviction was not pharmacy related, the court set aside or expunged your conviction, you obtained a pardon for your conviction, you completed remedial treatment for dependency and addiction issues, and you otherwise have a clean criminal, disciplinary, academic, and employment record.
License Discipline Effect of Controlled Substances Crimes
The second category of crime for which the Idaho Board of Pharmacy may discipline you involves state and federal Controlled Substances Act crimes. Those crimes would center on unlawful drug possession, distribution, or manufacture but could also include pharmacy drug diversion, dispensing violations, insurance fraud, and dispensing records crimes. We may be able to raise the same defenses as above, while also showing that the laws you violated were ambiguous, you reasonably relied on their authoritative interpretation, and your technical violation of those laws was without your corrupt intent.
Differences Between Criminal Case Stages
Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act 54-1737 places the burden of proof in a disciplinary proceeding on the party advocating the provision. When the Idaho Board of Pharmacy pursues disciplinary charges against you, the Board should thus bear the burden of establishing the charge with reliable evidence. We can hold the Board of Pharmacy accountable to its statutory burden of proof as follows.
License Discipline Effect of Idaho Criminal Investigation
The Idaho Board of Pharmacy should not presume anything from your criminal investigation, if your investigation did not proceed to criminal arrest, charge, and conviction. Police only need reasonable suspicion to pursue an investigation, not actual evidence. Suspicion does not satisfy the Board of Pharmacy’s burden of proof in a disciplinary proceeding.
License Discipline Effect of Idaho Criminal Arrest
The Idaho Board of Pharmacy should also not presume anything from your arrest if your arrest did not proceed to criminal charges and conviction. Police arrest on probable cause, not actual evidence. Probable cause does not satisfy the Board of Pharmacy’s burden of proof in a disciplinary proceeding because probable cause is not admissible evidence.
License Discipline Effect of Idaho Criminal Charge
The Idaho Board of Pharmacy should also not presume anything from your criminal charge if it does not result in a conviction. Prosecutors base criminal charges on an expectation that witnesses will establish the crime, not on actual evidence. An expectation does not satisfy the Board of Pharmacy’s burden of proof in a disciplinary proceeding because the Board would instead need the actual evidence. Prosecutors abandon charges, and courts dismiss charges for lack of evidence.
License Discipline Effect of Idaho Criminal Conviction
In its disciplinary proceeding, the Idaho Board of Pharmacy may, on the other hand, presume from your conviction that you committed the crime. We may still be able to show in defense of discipline that the court set aside or expunged the conviction, your conviction was not for a disqualifying crime, you rehabilitated your character, and you have a clean disciplinary, academic, and employment record.
Idaho Pharmacist’s Duty to Report Crime Issues
The Idaho Board of Pharmacy’s requirement that you renew your pharmacist license annually or, as it adopts its new procedures, every other year means that you must apply on the Board’s renewal form. That renewal form will likely require you to disclose your criminal conviction. Do not conceal your conviction. Doing so could result in license discipline or non-renewal for credential fraud. Instead, let us help you determine and meet your reporting requirements, while presenting your disclosure in the accurate form most likely to aid in our defense of any disciplinary charges related to the conviction.
Idaho Pharmacist Licensing Procedures
Idaho Pharmacy Practice Act Section 54-1726 expressly incorporates the procedural protections of the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act, requiring the Board of Pharmacy to offer you an administrative hearing. We can invoke your formal hearing and appeals for your best disciplinary outcome.
Premier Idaho Pharmacist License Defense
Retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team to defend your Idaho Board of Pharmacy disciplinary charges related to your criminal issues. We help hundreds of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals in Idaho and nationwide successfully defend their disciplinary charges. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our strategic and effective defense representation.