Forget about filling vacant spots at Walgreens to pill push. Demand for pharmacists are not to supplement pill dispensing roles. Pharmacists have evolved into a more sophisticated form of what is basically "THE DRUG EXPERT". This expertise will be put to use in other areas such as pharmacogenomics, participating in disease management as the drug expert, having the drug expertise to properly directly dispense ECs & similar reproductive products, chronic disease managemnt (i.e.-diabetes and asthma), OTC drug counseling, Rx drug counseling b/c HMOs are ever decreasing the time allocated for physician-patient interaction (other than diagnose, prescribe, and see ya!), overseeing safety in drug prescribed by physicians, and MORE, much, much more.
Pharmacists can be qualified as drug experts because they are. Who else studies the mechanisms of drugs for 4 years??