The battle is over! For now.
Yesterday, Alabama lawmakers blocked the proposal to move Alprazolam into Schedule II, as well as blocking the other proposed changes described in this series of client updates. See here and here. The pharmacy community in Alabama took an active role in opposing these changes. According to this article from Alabama Live, members of the Alabama Pharmacy Association opposed this change and as noted in our most recent update, the Alabama Board of Pharmacy was also encouraging pharmacists to reach out to their legislators to share their concerns. It looks like all of this hard work has paid off. Will this come back? Hard to tell, but we will continue to watch how Alabama and other states try to manage and prevent the abuse of prescription medications.