There must be some kind of social networking website or iPhone app that all junkies have that they use to communicate to one another. I swear, they must make a post or something and their alert goes off.
Usually when a person who has a legitimate prescription but they just reek of a junkie, I tell them we don't have those oxycodones in stock. But once in awhile I like to mix things up and make the junkies feel like it's the luckiest day of their lives and fill them. The look on their faces when I say yes and that it will be ready in 15 minutes is like watching a kid wake up Christmas morning and seeing that Santa finally came.
And every single time I fill one for them, I get a plethora of others with the same prescription for the next 5-6 days or so. It's like making a tiny crack in a damn wall, you make one little crack and then the damn bursts and you got meth heads, crack heads, and pill poppers flooding the store.
In a way, they are some of my favorite customers. First off, they always have a story to tell, either of how they have been to 100 pharmacies or how their roommate stole their last bottle and that is why he his early this month. And second, I make so much money off of them. These people will pay anything as long as they get it. People in chains may not realize this, but that 120 count oxycodone they are dispensing costs the pharmacy about $25-$30, and the AWP is about $175ish, that's a huge profit.
So if there is a Twitter for junkies, I want in. I would love to read their posts.
We had the same problem. My pharmacy manager (who has a tendency to not care whether an Rx is real or fake) will fill an Oxy 30 for cash. Then the word gets out and they start flooding in just after 6pm... addresses all over the place, doctors all over the place... but for some odd reason ALL with the same handwriting.
ReplyDeleteAnd while you get a thrill for filling your group sometimes, I get a thrill out of confronting them and watching them squirm. It's sometimes my only entertainment for the whole day. Squirm, druggie, squirm!
The look on their faces when I say yes and that twitter followers it will be ready in 15 minutes is like watching a kid wake up Christmas morning and seeing that Santa finally came.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that one of those so called junkies may just be a legit pain patient who has had to go to 20 pharmacies because no one keeps this med in stock anymore BECAUSE of the people who abuse it. So just maybe they are tired, in pain and just plain happy they don't have to spend the rest of the day trying to find their meds. You are not mind readers so you don't know 100% who is an addict and who isn't unless they have done something that proves it. Just remember in your disdain for addicts, don't throw in the legit pain patients.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. What I'm talking about more specifically are those scripts from a town no where near your pharmacy and a doctor not from the area. You fill one of those scripts for a person and suddenly you see about 5 more from the same town and doctor by the end of the day. Coincidence? Most likely no. One thing my law professor in school told me that stuck in my mind, you might think you are the greatest pharmacist around, but be wary when people from far away come fill your scripts at your pharmacy.
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