Alberta pharmacist accused of stealing, diluting painkiller for years

We put a lot of trust in medical professionals, including those who dispense our drugs. So news that an Alberta pharmacist has been busted for stealing prescription medication and diluting drugs is bound to be unsettling.

RCMP in Innisfail, just south of Red Deer on the highway between Calgary and Edmonton, have arrested a pharmacist working at a local Shopper's Drug Mart for allegedly stealing some 14,000 pills of the pain killer Dilaudid over more than two years, the Calgary Sun reports.

Amazingly, the alleged thefts were not aimed at channelling the drugs into the illicit market.

“We believe the stolen narcotic was for personal use," Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk told the Sun. “She’s consuming it herself.

The woman, who was fired, has not been identified because charges are still pending. RCMP say she's under investigation for fraud and illegal possession of a narcotic. She was arrested on Wednesday and released on a promise to appear in court, the Sun said.

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RCMP said they were brought in Tuesday, after Shopper's Drug Mart security officials investigated reports from customers that their pain-killing medication wasn't working as well as it should, the Sun said.

Investigators believe the druggist was removing between 20 and 50 per cent of the contents of some capsules, then returning the adulterated medication back to the store's stock for dispensing to customers.

She's also alleged to have fiddled with store records to facilitate theft of Dilaudid, a powerful opioid painkiller.

“The practices involved the theft of narcotics, as well as the creation of false entries into the computer in order to fill non-existent prescriptions,” the RCMP said in a news release.

The Mounties praised Shopper's personnel for uncovering the alleged thefts, which appear to have gone on for more than two years at the Innisfail outlet as well as at a Shopper's store in Red Deer.

"Without the diligence of the Shopper’s Drug Mart employees and security personal, the matter may have very well passed scrutiny for an extended period of time, given the unlimited access of the pharmacist in question," the RCMP said.

Shopper's communications director Tammy Smitham said the company believes the alleged tampering and theft was an isolated incident.

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“Our number one concern is the safety and well-being of the patients at the two locations where this individual worked,” she told the Red Deer Herald.

"The obvious concern for us is the safety, the risk of the public," echoed Cpl. Jeff Hildebrand. "I mean there are people who receive prescriptions that were obviously not as effective as they should have been."

Smitham said Shopper's was working to contact any of the pharmacist's customers who may have received the doctored meds "to ensure their health and safety."

Complaints about pharmacists diverting drugs are very rare, Dale Cooney, deputy registrar of the Alberta College of Pharmacists, told the Herald. Details of the Innisfail case have been sent to the college, which will investigate to determine what disciplinary action should be taken, he said.

“The public should still maintain their high level of trust in pharmacists as a whole,” said Cooney.