"If you believe that pharmacies should have the same freedom to choose their merchandise that other stores do, then what do you think of my statement above that pharmacists are required to dispense all prescribable drugs?"

To expand on Marion's point: Not long ago there was controversy over some scrupulously fundamentalist Christian pharmacists refusing to dispense the "morning-after" birth control pill, because they considered it a form of abortion, which they refuse to abet.

Some of their customers protested (and, I believe, brought suit) on the basis that a licensed pharmacist is required by law to fill any prescription written by a licensed physician. I believe, in some cases at least, that pharmacists adhering to this policy also got in trouble with their employers, as well, for not fulfilling their job requirements and satisfying their customers.

(I would also point out that most pharmacists ~ all those who are not owners-operators of small non-chain outets ~ have employers, i.e., owners of drug stores or larger stores with pharmacy departments, and that the owners of businesses where prescriptions are dispensed are not necessarily medical personnel subject to extra-legal oaths, covenents, etc.)

On another topic: "pure" democracy is much too cumbersome to function except in the context of very small communities. (The ancient city-state of Athens may have been the largest such demoracy ever.) The nations most of us live in are republics, or representative democracies. The mass of citizens elect representatives, and the representatives make decisions that are supposed to reflect the wishes of their consitituents. Sometimes the representatives incorrectly interpret the wishes of the people, sometimes the will of the people is so divided that a consensus is impossible to determine, and sometimes the representratives go off half-cocked to persue a personal agenda in defiance of majority opinion (or, to put a different face on it, to persue a higher good despite public opinion).

Nothing any of us can do about it ~ but I think it is not only disingenuous, but downright wrong, to argue that anything and everything done by an elected official "has the support," ipso facto,of the populace.