U.S. should reclassify prescription painkiller to cut rampant theft

Changing hydrocodone to a Schedule II drug means it would be kept under lock and key, requiring a pharmacist's involvement for a technician to gain access.

David Lazarus, LA Times
5:44 PM PDT, March 13, 2014

In his 30 years as a pharmacist, including three at a CVS Caremark store in Northern California, Wayne Wilson said it was all too common for drugstore employees to steal prescription drugs, which would often make their way to the black market.

"It happens far more often than people realize," he told me. "I used to be shocked. I'm not shocked any more."

Wilson said he personally intervened after a CVS pharmacy worker in Eureka was caught slipping painkillers into his pocket. That worker was arrested and fired, he said.

Pharmacists in other CVS stores have shared similar experiences, Wilson said, but they didn't always report such incidents to management. He said some pharmacists feared reprisal from the company for not supervising workers closely enough.

(More here.)