Rite Aid Settles With Feds Over Handling of Abuse-Prone Drugs
Rite Aid has entered a $5 million civil settlement with the Justice Department over the way pharmacies in eight states handled controlled substances, drugs like pain pills that are prone to abuse.
Rite Aid has agreed to set up a compliance plan meant to help “prevent diversion of controlled substances” and keep them away from people who shouldn’t get their hands on them, DOJ said. It includes audits and regular counting of the drugs. The plan also requires Rite Aid to get a tracking system going for pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, over-the-counter drugs that are used by some bad guys to make methamphetamine.
The feds have already been cracking down on online sales of such drugs, but this settlement involves brick-and-mortar pharmacies.
The DOJ said it had investigated 53 Rite Aids in 2004 and found a “pattern of violations” in certain pharmacies:
Knowingly filling prescriptions for controlled substances that were not prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose as part of a valid physician-patient relationship.
Failed to notify the Drug Enforcement Administration promptly of significant thefts and losses of controlled substances.
Failing either to keep or provide to the DEA upon request certain controlled-substance records.
Failing to properly use DEA forms to make sure the drugs ordered were […]
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