Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

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storewanderer
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Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by storewanderer »

Appears some pharmacy issues with Save Mart in Sonora. Not clear what this is all about.
https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/arti ... 36c02.html


Have noticed in Reno the Save Mart units have large signs on the store entry doors that they do not carry cough syrups with Codine in their pharmacy. I have wondered what this is all about and have not seen stickers at entry of any other pharmacy retailer with that message.
Alpha8472
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by Alpha8472 »

Yes, my pharmacist friend had a gun put to her back as the robber demanded promethazine with codeine cough syrup. It is sold on the street for tons of money. It is highly addictive. Any pharmacy that has it is bound to get robbed at gunpoint. Pharmacies have gotten robbed several times a month.

It is so out of control that most pharmacies don't want to carry it. The time delay safes help, but most robbers are illiterate. So you have a gun pointed at your face and the robbers demand your narcotics. The police don't respond. Why bother carrying it.

Walmart has these signs. Many other pharmacies are adding the sign too.
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: April 18th, 2022, 7:34 pm Yes, my pharmacist friend had a gun put to her back as the robber demanded promethazine with codeine cough syrup. It is sold on the street for tons of money. It is highly addictive. Any pharmacy that has it is bound to get robbed at gunpoint. Pharmacies have gotten robbed several times a month.

It is so out of control that most pharmacies don't want to carry it. The time delay safes help, but most robbers are illiterate. So you have a gun pointed at your face and the robbers demand your narcotics. The police don't respond. Why bother carrying it.

Walmart has these signs. Many other pharmacies are adding the sign too.
Interesting. The only place I have seen that sign is Save Mart. So they definitely did a good job making a noticeable sign. The pharmacies inside Save Mart in Nevada (except one store) are built in a way that you basically have to walk the entire store length including across the front end to get to the pharmacy. It would be very dumb to try and rob one of these pharmacies as you would have to pass through the front end with a lot of cameras (not only Save Mart's cameras but also the cameras for the slot machines inside the store).
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by BillyGr »

So people with legit prescriptions should go, then when they are denied the item have the pharmacist arrested for failing to perform his duty.

Then maybe they'll get the point that they should simply prosecute those that break the law rather than presuming guilty until proven innocent. Heck, give any pharmacist that wants one a gun carry permit, then they can stop the issue themselves (no prescription, you best leave now or else this gun will be used in self defense).
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by HCal »

BillyGr wrote: April 19th, 2022, 1:58 pm So people with legit prescriptions should go, then when they are denied the item have the pharmacist arrested for failing to perform his duty.
No business is obligated to serve you. A pharmacist, like anyone else, can refuse to serve anyone for any reason. There is no law requiring every pharmacy in the country to stock every single medication that could possibly be prescribed.
BillyGr wrote: April 19th, 2022, 1:58 pmThen maybe they'll get the point that they should simply prosecute those that break the law rather than presuming guilty until proven innocent. Heck, give any pharmacist that wants one a gun carry permit, then they can stop the issue themselves (no prescription, you best leave now or else this gun will be used in self defense).
Oh dear, I don't even know how to respond to something this absurd.
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by BillyGr »

HCal wrote: April 19th, 2022, 2:15 pm
BillyGr wrote: April 19th, 2022, 1:58 pm So people with legit prescriptions should go, then when they are denied the item have the pharmacist arrested for failing to perform his duty.
No business is obligated to serve you. A pharmacist, like anyone else, can refuse to serve anyone for any reason. There is no law requiring every pharmacy in the country to stock every single medication that could possibly be prescribed.
They may not stock it, but they would have to get it for you - if every pharmacy (in a reasonable area) refused to do so, they would be denying access to essential medical services.
BillyGr wrote: April 19th, 2022, 1:58 pmThen maybe they'll get the point that they should simply prosecute those that break the law rather than presuming guilty until proven innocent. Heck, give any pharmacist that wants one a gun carry permit, then they can stop the issue themselves (no prescription, you best leave now or else this gun will be used in self defense).
HCal wrote: April 19th, 2022, 2:15 pm Oh dear, I don't even know how to respond to something this absurd.
Not AT ALL absurd - if every manager or similar had a way to deal with those breaking the law, that would stop almost immediately.

No one is going to risk their life to steal some medicine (or anything else) - they only do it now since they know the chances of even getting caught are slim, it would be far different if they knew they could easily face someone ready to take their life at any time (and, if the person doing the stealing is coming in with a gun as was suggested in the original postings, the person working has every right to defend themselves).
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by Alpha8472 »

It also has to do with all of the lawsuits. The Federal lawsuits against CVS, Walgreens, Giant Eagle, and Walmart. There are lawsuits that say these pharmacies dispensed too many opioid prescriptions and they should all pay billions of dollars for filling those prescriptions.

Now faced with billions of dollars in lawsuits, these chains do not want to fill as many opioid drugs including promethazine with codeine. Codeine is in the same addictive category as Norco, Vicodin, and oxycodone.

It is these lawsuits targeting pharmacies that is making the pharmacies not dispense as many prescriptions as they did in the past. These lawsuits are trying to put pharmacies out of business and make them pay for everything from compensation, drug treatment programs, and even foster care for children of people who overdosed.

What about the doctors who prescribe these medications? Are they totally innocent? Why not go after them?
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Re: Save Mart-Sonora-Pharmacy Issues

Post by buckguy »

A more proximal issue is that pharmacists are concerned with facing more enforcement of opioid dispensing, based on concern about DEA enforcement based on dispensing patterns which vary a bit from state to state. This has been an impediment to prescribing Buprenorphine for opioid treatment.

Prescription monitoring programs, which vary from state to state have been used to curb physician prescribing.
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