SPOKANE — Robberies involving the narcotic Oxycontin are so common that Walgreens has installed time-delayed safes in its 114 pharmacies across Washington to secure the powerful painkiller.
The drug store chain is investing heavily in the security measure because Oxycontin robberies in the state are the most in the nation for the company, said Robert Elfinger, a Walgreens spokesman in Deerfield, Ill.
The safes were activated last weekend.
The safes take several minutes to open, blocking immediate access to the prescription drug.
“The potential criminal understands the longer they remain at a crime scene, their chances of getting caught increase exponentially with each passing minute,” Elfinger said.
The wait also means security cameras installed in stores will get better pictures of robbers. The company has also erected plenty of signs alerting would-be robbers about the tactic.
There have been about a dozen robberies at Walgreens stores in the Spokane area alone since last fall, often at gunpoint or knifepoint.
One pill of Oxycontin, an opium-based narcotic that produces a heroin-like high when injected, snorted or smoked, can fetch as much as $100 on the black market.
Other pharmacies are also getting hit. Last year, Medicine Man pharmacies in Liberty Lake and northern Idaho stopped keeping Oxycontin in stores. Customers must provide about a day’s notice, and employees pick up the drug at an offsite location. No robberies have been reported since the change.
Not stocking the drug isn’t an option for Walgreens, Elfinger said, because so many people depend on it as a pain medication.
Walgreens is also working with government agencies to toughen state penalties for pharmacy robberies, he said.
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