PHARMACISTS ARE URGED TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS

Pharmacies Are Using Stronger Security Measures To Protect Supplies Of Such
Narcotics As OxyContin

When one thinks of dangerous jobs, pharmacist might not be high on the
list. But the demand for narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin has forced
pharmacies to adopt stronger security measures such as surveillance
cameras, panic buttons, security vaults and even guns.

"Yes, the pharmacists need to be concerned," said David Marley, the owner
of Marley Drug, an independent pharmacy off Peters Creek Parkway in
Winston-Salem. " I think most pharmacists should at least go to the same
measures that most banks do."

Marley Drug has a camera-surveillance system, two panic buttons, phone and
computer lines that are backed-up by cellular lines, and a locked cabinet
for narcotics. Marley sometimes keeps a gun near the cabinet for extra
protection.

Carrie Cinnamond had a steel vault hauled into her pharmacy in eastern
Kentucky. Two break-ins in two weeks by burglars in search of painkillers
forced her to adopt many of the same security measures that are used at the
bank down the street.

Pharmaceutical companies have also adopted practices from the banking
industry, delivering prescription pills in armored trucks protected by
armed guards and tracked by satellites on carefully chosen routes. "We feel
very strongly that we have a commitment to protect the public and to make
sure these drugs are available for people who need them," said Aaron
Graham, the vice president of corporate security at Purdue Pharma, the
Connecticut company that manufactures OxyContin.

"You do that by making sure they're not stolen or diverted," Graham said.
"Armored vehicles are just one part of the protocol. We use space-age
technology involving global positioning to make sure we know where our
product is all the time."

For Cinnamond, the popularity of OxyContin forced her to take extra
measures. Burglars broke into her pharmacy twice in 2001, and tried
unsuccessfully a third time after she upgraded security. "It was appalling
to me that they could come into the store, take the drugs, go directly to
the street, and who knows who they would be selling them to," Cinnamond said.

Graham, a former agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration whose
Purdue Pharma team advises pharmacies on security, said that most
drugstores have taken measures to protect against thefts.

"The prudent pharmacist knows he's got an expensive, valuable commodity
that needs to be protected."

Dan Smoot, the chief detective for the eastern Kentucky anti-drug task
force Operation UNITE, said that prescription drugs remain the top problem
for police agencies in the mountains. Smoot led the largest drug raid in
Kentucky history two months ago, arresting more than 200 people on charges
of buying or selling prescription drugs on the black market. Smoot said
that the roundup was aimed primarily at people dealing in OxyContin, a
narcotic that can provide 12 hours of relief for cancer patients and others
suffering from severe pain. The tablet can produce a quick and potentially
lethal high if it is chewed, snorted or injected. It has been linked to
more than 100 deaths and bears the government's strongest warning label.

Finding a balance between protecting themselves and serving patients can be
difficult, Marley said.

"On one hand, we do want to be careful, we don't want to open ourselves up
for a robbery or breaking and entering type situation," Marley said. "At
the same time we don't want to be so preventive that patients don't want to
come to us. Some pharmacies will go to the extreme of refusing to stock
some medications. I think it's possible to put the proper safeguards into
place."