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Burglars Looking for Drugs: Pharmacies and Homes Targets
American pharmacies are part of a scary trend in robberies. It is becoming a much more frequent situation to open the newspaper or turn on the TV to find out about a pharmacist being robbed at gunpoint.
The U.S Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that armed robberies at pharmacies have risen 81% from 2006 to 2010. Robbers are usually looking for Oxycontin and Hydrocodone based medications.
In New York, Florida, California, and Indiana, just to name a few, the number of pharmaceutical robberies has gone up tremendously. One pharmacist in New York that has been a victim twice in the past year is calling the problem "an epidemic."
It makes sense that the misuse of prescription drugs is also on the rise in the United States. Drug addicts are coming up with ways to satisfy their addiction.
Home burglaries with criminals looking for drugs are also on the rise. Instead of breaking into a home to steal expensive equipment and jewelry, many burglars are raiding the medicine cabinets of homeowners to steal their prescription medications. Vicodin, OxyContin, and Norco are three of the most commonly misused prescription medications among more than 7 million Americans that abuse painkillers every month, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Fortunately, the burglars and robbers don't injure anyone very often. Their main interest is getting the drugs. But police are becoming more worried that these criminals will do anything to get the drugs they are after. A recent crime involving a neighborhood pharmacy in New York involved an armed robber shooting and killing the attendant, clerk at the store, and two customers so he could steal a backpack full of highly addictive prescription medications.
The president of Physicans for Responsible Opioid Prescribing is a group of growing doctors that advocates taking a more cautious approach to prescribing addicting medication. With the rising trends many people get addicted to narcotic painkillers after being prescribed them for a legitimate reason.