I am a retired pharmacist.  Let the drug companies sample the medication via
pharmacies like Lederle has done in the past.  The doctor does not need the
sample as he does not personally take it. If he is going to use it to treat
himself then let the drug company give it to him.  Let the drug companies
give out samples to patients who actually need them and can afford them with
a free Rx plan. But why start a patient on an expensive medication that he
can't afford to purchase? Why give the most expensive medication to patients
that don't have two pennies to rub together? The doctor should write  a Rx
on a special drug company supplied blank and the patient takes it to the
pharmacy of his choice.  His pharmacist fills the Rx and then the drug
company pays the pharmacy for the drug plus a dispensing fee.

I don't care for the idea of the pharmaceutical industry cutting the
pharmacy completely out of the picture.  You have people who are not
pharmacists labeling prescription medication and giving it out. (If they
label it at all) Often the samples are pitched in a paper bag (if you are
lucky) and the bag has no patients name on it, no directions for
administration, no doctor's name, etc. The pharmaceutical industry in
general is too cheap to pay a pharmacist to dispense it and keep proper
records.  And I bet if you checked the dumpster behind a doctor's office you
would find all sorts of medication samples in the trash that could be stolen
from the bags.

In general the most I ever got from a drug salesmen when I was working
retail pharmacy was some cheap ball point pens or maybe a note pad.  These
people would not even leave one box of samples at the pharmacy for the staff
to look at. God forbid we might give it away or even sell it!