Smoking cessation drugs are a prime example. In some patients they can cause depression and suicide. Allowing pharmacists to independently prescribe them, he says, could compromise patient safety. But others say that attitude ignores the fact that something must be done to ease the state’s doctor shortage. "You can’t say out of one side of your mouth, 'we’re going to have a huge shortage of doctors,' and then say, 'Oh by the way, you have to see a doctor for these conditions,'" says Jeff Goldsmith, president of Health Futures, Inc. and an associate p...