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OxyContin robberies alarm pharmacists

No clear solution to escalating problem

By: Jen Skerritt

Posted: 06/21/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

A robber pointed a gun at pharmacist Mike Olynik and demanded he hand over OxyContin.

Mike Olynik isn't afraid to go to work, but the neon yellow sign behind the pharmacy counter is a chilling reminder of the day he became the first Winnipeg pharmacist forced to stare down the barrel of a gun.

"No OxyContin on premises," the sign reads.

Olynik was working at Munroe Pharmacy on May 25 when a man came in and demanded OxyContin from a technician. He pointed to a weapon near his belt to indicate he was armed. Olynik stepped in and told the man to leave. As Olynik turned and dialed 911, the robber pulled out his gun and aimed it directly at him.

"When I looked up, he pointed the weapon at my chest. It was a handgun," Olynik said. "It was pretty shocking to be staring down the barrel of a gun."

"I put down the phone before anything escalated."

Olynik handed over the pills in what was the first in a string of recent armed heists targeting OxyContin supplies from local pharmacies. In the last three weeks, six city pharmacies have been robbed, and Olynik and others don't expect the wave of crime to stop.

Manitoba Pharmaceutical registrar Ronald Guse said pharmacy robberies are a priority issue at a meeting this week with other Canadian pharmacy regulators in Ottawa. While Manitoba officials have told local pharmacies to beef up their security and avoid stocking large quantities of the highly addictive painkiller, Guse said is there is no clear solution to help stave off future robberies.

Manitoba recently imposed restrictions on OxyContin prescriptions to reduce the supply of opiates on the street and the ballooning demand for methadone treatment services. Experts say there are still aren't enough treatment spaces to deal with the backlog of opiate addicts who need help, and people who can't get into treatment programs could resort to crime to feed their addiction.

"It's very difficult to stop it," Guse said of the robberies. "To say that there is one thing that could be done to stop it, I don't know what that is."

Joe Clare, a criminologist at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University, said cities across North America are struggling to contain the fallout from OxyContin abuse and no one has found a solution that stops desperate addicts from robbing pharmacies. He researched the problem for the Pharmacy Robbery Taskforce, a project struck by the B.C. Pharmacy Association, the College of Pharmacists of B.C. and the RCMP.

Clare can't discuss his findings until the report is made public, but he said he visited pharmacies to analyze how they can avoid becoming a target and how to collect better suspect information to help police make arrests.

Heightened security can help, he said there is no clear answer and approaches differ worldwide. While officials in the U.S. typically incarcerate addicts for drug offences, Clare said the United Kingdom has a registered addict program that gives free heroin to addicts to keep their withdrawal symptoms at bay so they don't resort to crime.

"There's no silver bullet out there," Clare said. "You're never going to get rid of this problem entirely."

Olynik said Munroe Pharmacy now only fills OxyContin prescriptions by the order. It gets stock on the same day a legitimate medical patient needs it filled. But even with new policies and tougher restrictions on the drug, Olynik said robberies could become "epidemic."

He said the government's plan to curb OxyContin abuse is a great long-term solution, but could leave addicts with few alternatives in the interim. "It's probably going to become more of an issue," Olynik said. "The fact of the matter is if these guys are desperate, they're going to seek (it)."

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 21, 2010 A6

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