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Original poster

Pharmacy staff who steal medication to sell

16 replies

StealthRoast · 28/08/2021 01:17

Hi, I couldn’t think of a better subject title so apologies, it’s something that has been playing on my mind.

I have a chronic illness and several MH conditions and I take various medications. I always use my local pharmacy who know me and are great with advice etc. I believe that none of the staff would do the above.

Talking to my neighbour who has back problems and is also medicated, she was telling me that her ex boyfriend’s sister works in a pharmacy and steals a specific painkiller and sells it for £1 a tablet. The usual dosage is 8 per day. I am no goody two shoes but was really shocked at this.
Neighbour said that it is widely known that she does this within her community but her pharmacy is not local to them.

I also was walking home with a school dad one day and he has epilepsy. He was telling me about how he was struggling to get a certain medicine from his doctor and his friend’s girlfriend works in a pharmacy and can get hold of “pretty much anything” for a price and he was considering using her for this.

I will admit that I am pretty naive. I have ASD and although I’m relatively clever I have always struggled with understanding/accepting some situations. I do know that it’s wrong to do this so it’s not about that. I’m just more shocked that it happens and was spoken about quite casually and for the right price you can get your hands on tablets which may do more harm than good.

I would presume that medications are tightly controlled and counted but this obviously isnt the case in the above situations.
Is this more common than i realise? It’s a huge abuse of power in my opinion and i do understand how someone desperate could want to buy some tablets but I’m still struggling to understand how anyone is getting away with doing it and the ramifications if someone died after taking something that interacted with something else or any other reason.
Sorry that was way longer than intended.

OP posts:

alexdgr8 · 28/08/2021 01:36

you don't have to puzzle over it.
just ring crimestoppers, it's anonymous.
Call 0800 555 111 or use their non-traceable online form at Crimestoppers

LoveBigBundts · 28/08/2021 01:44

is it zanax?

MoppaSprings · 28/08/2021 01:46

What pain killer is it? Controlled drugs are kept locked away and counted to make sure it all balances at the end of the week, any discrepancies are investigated.

Some things like codeine may be possible to steal, but it would certainly depend on how in top of stock the pharmacy are.

Any concerns report it.

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GreatBritishWineDrinker · 28/08/2021 01:48

Hmmmm

NiceGerbil · 28/08/2021 01:55

Sounds pretty much like a load of bollocks to me OP.

The medicine stock is v tightly controlled. If stuff was going missing it would be found really fast.

What painkiller? I think addiction to OTC painkillers is more common here.

If they can nick stuff why not something more lucrative? Is it a heavy duty opiate this drug?

If they're prepared to do that and risk their job. Why not take the easier route and deal in illegal drugs?

If multiple people know this person is doing it why the hell has no one reported it to the shop/.police/. whatever.

It sounds like random gossip/ nonsense. IMO.

Given all that. No it's not common. Certainly not enough to cause a shortage.

Original poster

StealthRoast · 28/08/2021 02:01

Hi. Thanks for replies. It’s co-codamol which the first person steals. Seems to be a common painkiller which I’ve been on myself in the past but wasn’t much good for me. I’m not sure about the second person as I think they steal to order which is even worse.

OP posts:

NiceGerbil · 28/08/2021 02:03

I still think it sounds like bollocks tbh OP.

And if one or both are true. No it's not indicative of a widespread issue resulting in shortages.

I've had a neighbour confidently tell me that two different teens on our road area drug dealers. Based on... Nothing tbh.

People talk a lot of rubbish.

Invasionofthegutsnatchers · 28/08/2021 02:12

Cocodamol is widely available and cheap so I very much doubt it would be sold at £1 a tablet.

TheDinnerWitch · 28/08/2021 02:18

I used to work in a pharmacy a few years ago. One of our locum pharmacists (so a pharmacist who isn’t our ‘regular pharmacist’, he was employed by an agency but regularly sent to our pharmacy) used to regularly steal medication. It was sort of an open secret, but Head Office couldn’t really do anything about it as there was no proof that it was him who was stealing it, as we had 3 or 4 different locum pharmacists a week. So yes, it can happen.

user47899335 · 28/08/2021 03:22

£1 for a co-codamol tablet?

ShippingNews · 28/08/2021 03:26

I imagine it's pretty common . I'm in the health sector and I've heard of people stealing drugs for all the years I've worked here . Pharmacists, nurses, doctors, anyone who has access can steal it if there is money to be made ( or for personal use of course).

It's also commonly known that patients sell their medications for profit . I recently spoke to a cancer patient ( I'm in palliative care) who said casually that he often sells his pain medications if he needs extra money. There is a thriving market for narcotics, which are given to palliative care patients routinely.

Mousetown · 28/08/2021 07:11

@TheDinnerWitch

How did you know he was stealing? And why couldn’t you get proof?

Standrewsschool · 28/08/2021 07:21

There’s different strengths of co-codamol, the OTC which is a different strength to the prescription-only ones. The stronger ones are addictive and there is a big market for them in the community.

TrufflyPig · 28/08/2021 07:24

It does happen, rarely thankfully. Obviously controlled drugs are subject to strict storage and record keeping so its difficult to take those without anyone noticing but plenty of non controlled medication that can be taken: diazepam, codeine, Tramadol (controlled but not subject to register and storage requirements) same with gabapentin and pregabalin.

You could easily steal such medication in low levels. People often get greedy though and it gets picked up by electronic stock control (ie you've ordered 20 boxes of diazepam this month but only dispensed 5). Or someone else working there notices.

Doesn't even have to be drugs for recreational use, I know a pharmacy worker who got sacked for stealing diabetic testing strips and selling them on ebay!

AlixandraTheGreat · 28/08/2021 07:42

I can't speak for the authenticity of OP's story, but just in my community there have been several pharmacists caught doing similar (not for co-codamol though - stronger opiates). One was selling his on to notorious gangs in the area and they had him blackmailed.

CaptainCallisto · 28/08/2021 08:43

I did twelve years in community pharmacy, and about eight years in our head office (regional chain with 10 pharmacies) announced that we would now all be subjected to bag checks at the end of shift. They'd discovered one of the dispensers in another of their pharmacies had been nicking diazepam and selling it. I couldn't believe it - I felt totally naïve. It never occurred to me people would do it!

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