This past session, the Legislature formed the West Virginia Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council to oversee a variety of initiatives aimed at reducing the cost of pharmaceutical drugs for West Virginians. Its first major reports are due soon.

To that end, a public meeting has been scheduled in conjunction with the August interim session in Beckley: 6 to 8 p.m. next Tuesday in the West Virginia Room of the Raleigh County Armory.

The meeting will include presentations on the Medicare discount card, on drug discounts available through primary care centers and on www.rxforwv.org, a new effort by the drug industry to connect qualified, low-income people with no-cost prescription drug programs offered by the manufacturers.

It is on this last item - the clearinghouse - that public feedback is most needed at this time. The council must take a position on handover of the clearinghouse to the state by Sept. 1.

Drug industry representatives, pointing to thousands of hits on the Web site, have proclaimed the clearinghouse a success. Others claim the site does little more than access complicated paperwork and a confusing approval process that overburdens doctors and fails to deliver medications in a timely fashion.

The clearinghouse is clearly good promotion for the drug industry. The question is whether it is cost effective in light of other existing sites. Is it good public policy for the state?

Your feedback is needed. Go to the Web site, www.rxforwv.org, or call 1-877-WVA-Rx4U 800. See if it works for you.

Another major council initiative, the key element in Speaker Kiss' original bill, establishes a program to obtain favorable pharmaceutical prices for all West Virginians - not just for low-income and uninsured individuals.

The council is required to offer a pricing schedule that will maximize savings to the broadest percentage of the population of the state and offer a strategic plan for implementing that plan by Sept. 15.

Here the issue is far more complicated. Various options for both pricing and implementation are available. And here again, citizen input is necessary.

How real is the crisis for you? Can you afford all your medications? Or have you had to choose which drugs to take? Is state action necessary? What actions would you like to see?

Individuals wishing to address the council may sign up on a first-come, first-served basis from 5:30 to 6 p.m. in the hallway outside the meeting room.

Come to the Armory Tuesday night, 200 Armory Drive, Beckley, and let your voice be heard.

. -- Kurland is health action coordinator for Covenant House, Charleston.