Idaho lawmaker worked to legalize this drug. He was among the first to sell it

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — In the final days of this year’s legislative session, Idaho lawmakers passed a bill to allow pharmacies to sell ivermectin over the counter.

Soon after, a pharmacy owned by the bill’s sponsor began selling the drug.

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Dubbed a “wonder drug” for its ability to treat a wide range of parasitic infections, ivermectin gained a following during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some claiming it could treat the respiratory virus.

To the extent that studies have found that ivermectin actually was effective against COVID-19, it was only in large enough doses that would cause serious side effects in humans, David Pate, the former president and CEO of St. Luke’s Health System, told the Idaho Statesman in April.

Right-wing influencers advertise that it can cure a host of ills, even though the Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug for use beyond its original anti-parasitic properties, The New York Times reported in March. Taking the drug has become an indicator of distrust in pharmaceutical companies and medical expertise — an “enduring pharmacological MAGA hat,” the Times wrote.

Rep. Jordan Redman, a Coeur d’Alene Republican who owns Medicine Man Prairie Pharmacy in Hayden, disclosed — as required — in a committee hearing and on the House floor that as a pharmacy owner, he had a conflict of interest in sponsoring and voting on the legislation.

But after lawmakers make these declarations, known as Rule 80 in the House and Rule 39 in the Senate, they are still free to vote on the bills in question unless they volunteer to abstain.

Lawmakers are required only to state that they have a conflict of interest, but not to divulge the exact nature of the conflict, House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, a Boise Democrat and attorney, previously told the Statesman.

“There’s actually very little disclosure around it,” she said. “The public doesn’t really get a lot of insight into what exactly the conflict is.”

Redman, who is not a pharmacist or medical professional, did not respond to messages requesting comment for this story.

Ritchie Eppink, a constitutional rights attorney who has fought legal battles against the Legislature for years, raised concerns in a previous interview with the Statesman about the relative toothlessness of the ethics rules governing lawmakers’ behavior.

“Those rules are absolutely a joke,” said Eppink. “The fact that the legislators can use their office to advance legislation and policy proposals that benefit them, personally and monetarily, with just — at most — disclosing that (is a) recipe for corruption.”

He declined to comment specifically on Redman’s situation but said it “certainly should raise concerns and prompt us all to be asking ourselves what’s happening here, and do the rules that we have ensure that this legislator, along with his colleagues, are not going to abuse the public’s trust?”

There’s a thin line, he acknowledged, between lawmakers sponsoring and speaking out on legislation that relates to the industry in which they work, and pursuing policy that benefits their own interests at the public’s expense.

“It’s one thing to say, ‘I’m going to speak on this bill, because this bill has to do with building codes, and I’m a carpenter or electrician, and I have experience in that area,’ ” he told the Statesman by phone. “It’s another thing to say, ‘I want to change the building code so that I can make more money.’ ”

‘A ton’ of constituents wanted ivermectin, lawmaker says

Redman told the Statesman in April that the issue hit his radar because he received “a ton of emails” from constituents who wanted to see ivermectin available over the counter, without a prescription required.

“It was late in the session, and we had already shut down the House committees, so I just ran a personal bill, just getting it out there, signaling that, you know, maybe next year, we pick this up,” he said.

But House and Senate leaders were enthusiastic and wanted to push the bill through this year, he said, and it moved through both Republican-dominated chambers in little more than a day.

He said he wanted to increase Idahoans’ access to the drug, especially in rural parts of the state where doctors are scarce and prescriptions can be hard to come by.

Idahoans are taking the drug anyway, he said, and many are using a version from animal feed stores intended for deworming livestock. That kind doesn’t come with any information about human dosages or recommended uses — because it isn’t intended for their use.

The “biggest issue” right now, he said, is that “we know that Idahoans are taking it — so having them have a conversation” with a pharmacist “is probably a better solution long-term.”

Pharmacy customers aren’t required to speak with pharmacists to buy over-the-counter medications, so there’s no guarantee any conversations will take place.

The American Pharmacists Association and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, along with groups such as the American Medical Association, have opposed the use of ivermectin to treat COVID except in clinical trials.

Medicine Man’s website doesn’t list a price for ivermectin. One X user, who in late May posted a picture of a bottle she purchased, said she paid $75 for 30 3-milligram capsules.