A rash of break-ins at local drug stores has store owners wondering what needs to be done to increase security and keep prescription drugs out of the illicit market.
Here’s a thought.
Anyone who has shopped at a major supermarket will notice the steel gates that ring the dispensary area when the pharmacist is away. The stores have those security features since the entire layout is based on designs in Ontario where drug stores have been required for years – by regulation – to provide that level of security.
78. The parts of a pharmacy in which prescriptions are compounded and dispensed for the public or drugs are stored or sold by retail shall be so constructed that they may be locked and made not accessible to the public in the absence of a pharmacist. R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 551, s. 78.
Maybe the local pharmacy regulatory board should bring in those types of security features for all drug stores in the province.
The local regulations only apply to drug stores that have specifically applied for that type of set-up. The lock and leave regulations in Newfoundland and Labrador applies when the dispensary is closed but the rest of the store is open.
If a pharmacist is always available when the pharmacy is open, there is no need to complete the Application for Approval of Lock and Leave form. An application form is available from the Board’s offices, or from the website www.nlpb.ca should you later decide to apply for Lock and Leave approval. [Italics added]
The Ontario regulation applies to all pharmacies at all times. When the store is closed, the extra level of security in the dispensary make it that much harder for thieves to break in, turn off security cameras and then take their time breaking into the narcotic safe.
Maybe drug store owners could try that before they talk about getting rid of all “narcotics and restrict them to hospitals or one central location where they're dispensed only when needed,” as the CBC story linked above said one pharmacist suggested.
Just a thought.
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