Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jul 2004
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2004 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily 
home delivery circulation area.
Note: Journal Staff And Wire Reports
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

PHARMACISTS ARE URGED TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS

Pharmacies Are Using Stronger Security Measures To Protect Supplies Of Such 
Narcotics As OxyContin

When one thinks of dangerous jobs, pharmacist might not be high on the 
list. But the demand for narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin has forced 
pharmacies to adopt stronger security measures such as surveillance 
cameras, panic buttons, security vaults and even guns.

"Yes, the pharmacists need to be concerned," said David Marley, the owner 
of Marley Drug, an independent pharmacy off Peters Creek Parkway in 
Winston-Salem. " I think most pharmacists should at least go to the same 
measures that most banks do."

Marley Drug has a camera-surveillance system, two panic buttons, phone and 
computer lines that are backed-up by cellular lines, and a locked cabinet 
for narcotics. Marley sometimes keeps a gun near the cabinet for extra 
protection.

Carrie Cinnamond had a steel vault hauled into her pharmacy in eastern 
Kentucky. Two break-ins in two weeks by burglars in search of painkillers 
forced her to adopt many of the same security measures that are used at the 
bank down the street.

Pharmaceutical companies have also adopted practices from the banking 
industry, delivering prescription pills in armored trucks protected by 
armed guards and tracked by satellites on carefully chosen routes. "We feel 
very strongly that we have a commitment to protect the public and to make 
sure these drugs are available for people who need them," said Aaron 
Graham, the vice president of corporate security at Purdue Pharma, the 
Connecticut company that manufactures OxyContin.

"You do that by making sure they're not stolen or diverted," Graham said. 
"Armored vehicles are just one part of the protocol. We use space-age 
technology involving global positioning to make sure we know where our 
product is all the time."

For Cinnamond, the popularity of OxyContin forced her to take extra 
measures. Burglars broke into her pharmacy twice in 2001, and tried 
unsuccessfully a third time after she upgraded security. "It was appalling 
to me that they could come into the store, take the drugs, go directly to 
the street, and who knows who they would be selling them to," Cinnamond said.

Graham, a former agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration whose 
Purdue Pharma team advises pharmacies on security, said that most 
drugstores have taken measures to protect against thefts.

"The prudent pharmacist knows he's got an expensive, valuable commodity 
that needs to be protected."

Dan Smoot, the chief detective for the eastern Kentucky anti-drug task 
force Operation UNITE, said that prescription drugs remain the top problem 
for police agencies in the mountains. Smoot led the largest drug raid in 
Kentucky history two months ago, arresting more than 200 people on charges 
of buying or selling prescription drugs on the black market. Smoot said 
that the roundup was aimed primarily at people dealing in OxyContin, a 
narcotic that can provide 12 hours of relief for cancer patients and others 
suffering from severe pain. The tablet can produce a quick and potentially 
lethal high if it is chewed, snorted or injected. It has been linked to 
more than 100 deaths and bears the government's strongest warning label.

Finding a balance between protecting themselves and serving patients can be 
difficult, Marley said.

"On one hand, we do want to be careful, we don't want to open ourselves up 
for a robbery or breaking and entering type situation," Marley said. "At 
the same time we don't want to be so preventive that patients don't want to 
come to us. Some pharmacies will go to the extreme of refusing to stock 
some medications. I think it's possible to put the proper safeguards into 
place."
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MAP posted-by: Beth