A Hard Pill to Swallow: Pharmacy Chain Dominance and the Commodification of Mental Health in Peru.

Peru's mental health system remains marked by chronic underinvestment, fragmentation, and weak regulation, leaving many without adequate access to care. In this context, private pharmacy chains have become central actors in the provision of mental health services, functioning as de facto points of access for psychotropic medications. Drawing on the concept of institutional corruption and a rights-based analysis, this paper examines how their dominance has transformed access to psychotropic medication into a market-controlled process in which commercial interests shape treatment pathways, reinforcing inequality and overmedicalization and undermining the right to health.