https://www.boredpanda.com/unknown-interesting-facts-msn/
Published Apr 01, 2026
57 Interesting Facts To Make Your Boring Day Feel More Productive
Edvinas Jovaišas
BoredPanda staff
*** begin quote ***
#18
North Dakotans are used to pharmacists like Schlecht and to having pharmacies in small towns like Forman. In North Dakota, there are no Walgreens or Walmart pharmacies. Instead, North Dakotans get their medications from the 171 independent and locally-owned pharmacies throughout the state. This is no accident: It’s the result of a forward-thinking policy choice, the Pharmacy Ownership Law, that, since 1963, has given North Dakotans pharmacy care that outperforms care in other states on every key measure, from cost to access. In North Dakota, prescription drug prices are more affordable than in two-thirds of all states. Pharmacies are more plentiful, with more per capita than in neighboring South Dakota, Minnesota, or nationally, and they’re more broadly distributed; North Dakota’s rural areas are 51 percent more likely to contain a pharmacy than similarly-populated areas of South Dakota. And in general, independent pharmacies provide higher quality care, studies and surveys of customer satisfaction find. North Dakota reaps economic benefits, too, from this local ownership. Without the Pharmacy Ownership Law, a 2014 report from ILSR estimated, about 70 of North Dakota’s independent pharmacies would close. Chain pharmacies headquartered around the country and out-of-state mail order companies would fill the gap, and ILSR estimates that direct economic losses to the state’s economy would be at least $17 million, and as high as $29 million, without accounting for indirect impacts such as lost tax revenue. Instead of focusing on corporate profits, North Dakota’s policy prioritizes health care, and the state’s residents are the ones who benefit.
*** end quote ***
“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” George Bernard Shaw
The States often show us they way to do the impossible.
Imagine the uproar from Big Pharma if this became a national law!
Reinke Faces Life 