DANGER SEEN IN DRUGSTORE ROBBERIES, EVEN IF NO WEAPON SHOWN

Thieves craving OxyContin have been cashing in on drugstore policies that
warn against violent confrontations, social experts and police officials say.

Most OxyContin robberies in MetroWest over the last year have been pulled
off by men who do not show a weapon or threaten to use one, according to
police reports. The robbers ask for the store's supply or say they need a
prescription filled.

While some stores were robbed by gunpoint, in other cases nearby patrons
were unaware that a robber had asked a pharmacist to hand over the store's
supply.

That was the case at a Sudbury CVS on June 28, when a man walked into the
store and demanded all the OxyContin, police said. Employees handed over
what the man wanted and he left, so quietly that police said customers and
other employees had no idea the store was robbed.

Although a robbery without an apparent weapon may appear non-violent,
police said clerks and customers can still be in grave danger.

"It's very scary when you're at the other end of it. It's all perception,"
said Lt. Ed Yarosz, who is in charge of detectives at the Framingham Police
Department. "It would be a mistake to say it's not violence."

The latest OxyContin robbery in Framingham took place in March, when two
men marched into Walgreens on Rte. 9, jumped over the pharmacy counter and
asked for the powerful pain-killer.

The men said very little and did not show or speak about any weapons,
police said. They grabbed the prescription drug and ran out of the store.

Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin said employees are trained not to
confront someone trying to rob a store.

"In this type of situation we essentially say, if someone is threatening
you, hand over the product," he said. "Your life is definitely much more
important than the product."

Police said robbers who do not show weapons may be trying to escape
unnoticed from the store. They also would face lighter prison terms if
caught, and were, in fact, unarmed.

The casual "stickups" without showing a weapon may also be capitalizing on
the mind-set of employees at chain drugstores, said Henry Tischler, a
sociology professor at Framingham State College.

"What are you protecting? CVS's supply?" he said. "If it's your supply and
the difference between whether you make a profit in July or not, you may
show a little more resistance."

Tischler recounted how an elderly woman hit a robber over the head as he
tried to steal from her antique shop in Chestnut Hill.

"She took care of him and the police got him," he said. "That's the
opposite story. It was her store and she cared."

But Richard Peristere, who owns Jones Drug in downtown Natick, said even
family owned businesses are giving thieves what they want without a second
thought.

"We're told by the Drug Enforcement Agency and the state that we can't
resist at all because we don't know what weapons they may have," said
Peristere, who has worked at the store since he was a teenager.

"The policy when Mr. Jones owned the store when I was young was the same.
It's not worth your life for the pills."

If any employee questions that policy, Peristere tells them about his
friend in Milton, whose drugstore was robbed six months ago. When a man
walked in and asked for OxyContin, Peristere's friend said he would need a
prescription. The robber wasn't amused.

"The guy said, 'Very funny' and stuck a .38 caliber gun to his head,"
Peristere said.

So Peristere abides by the advice of a DEA agent.

"I am telling you right now, wrap it in a ribbon if they want it that way,"
the agent told him.

OxyContin, the trade name for oxycodone hydrochloride, has become the drug
of choice over the past two years because it can produce a heroin-like
high. If taken correctly, the synthetic morphine controls pain for up to 12
hours.

Pharmacies in Framingham, Natick, Marlborough and Wayland have all been hit
with OxyContin robberies this year. Last year, thieves in search of the
drug hit stores in Shrewsbury and Framingham.

The drug has become so popular among thieves, some stores have pulled it
from the shelves. Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. made that decision in April
and Walgreen's followed once month later. Both companies now fill OxyContin
prescriptions through a drug wholesaler.

Stop & Shop has pulled the drug from all its stores. Walgreens, however,
still sells the drug outside of New England.