Pharmacy robberies in Hamilton spike; third theft in 2 weeks

AnAncasterpharmacy robbery Tuesday was the third Hamilton pharmacy robbed in two weeks as thieves target powerful prescription painkillers.

Illegal use of prescription opiods is the city's fastest growing drug problem and one that is playing a growing role in thefts and petty crime as addicts seek drugs and money to feed their habits.

There's a lot of pharmacies that are in the same shoes, trying to find ways to prevent theft.- Mina Mikhail, pharmacist, Queen Lake Pharmacy

In Tuesday's robbery, the thieves took approximately 40Fentanylpatches and 30 dispensing bottles of Oxycontin, said Hamilton Police detective Sgt.EmidioEvangelista. They also took some Tylenol2sand Tylenol3s, apparently for the small amount of codeine contained in the pills.

The thefts underscore the challenges pharmacies face as a key source for prescription painkillers for both sanctioned, prescribed use and, illicitly, for street use. There were only seven pharmacy robberies in2014, down from 10 in2013, and sothree in the first fewweeks of the year is a surprising spike.

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Hamilton Police vice and drugs staff Sgt. PaulDowneyemphasized 2014's decline in pharmacy robberies. "This is kind of just a recent spike," he said. "That can happen. We could have one person (hitting multiple pharmacies) and all of a sudden it looks like we're off the wall with robberies."

Downeysaid a spike of robberies like this indicates the drugs have become harder to get on the street for undetermined reasons.

But he said the police can't say for sure whether the illicit drugs stay and are sold in Hamilton, or whether thieves take themto more remote northern parts of the province where they draw a premium price. AFentanylpatch that might sell for $140 per patch in Hamilton could fetch $500 or $600 elsewhere,Downeysaid. A20-miligramtablet of Oxycontin can sell for $20 on the street, he said.

The main source of the drugs for illegal use ispeople diverting from their ownprescriptions.

'If they want to rob you, they want to rob you'

Meanwhile, the targeted pharmacies face the challenge of cleaning up after the thefts and finding ways to prevent future thefts.

Mina Mikhail is a pharmacist at Queen Lake Pharmacy in Stoney Creek, which was robbed of $4,000 worth of inventory last week. It wasn't the first armed robbery at the pharmacy, he said.

Mikhail said the police are going to recommend more security measures, but he said the store has taken many steps already including installing an elevated counter and a buzzer system to screen entrants.

"If they want to rob you, they want to rob you," Mikhail said.

After a break-in, the pharmacy must inventory what was lost and report it to Health Canada. And the pharmacy also faces increased insurance premiums with every loss. "It's a nightmare, Mikhail said. "You can't stop your business and count all this stuff."

Mikhail said the persistence of narcotics thieves has inspired an idea he admits could cost pharmacies money, but potentially make them safer.

"I think narcotics should be dispensed from a single particular location" like an LCBO, he said. "Is that going to hurt our sales? For sure. But you have to realize that that's all they seek."

"There's a lot of pharmacies that are in the same shoes, trying to find ways to prevent theft," he said.

Downey, from Hamilton Police, said he didn't want to share details of what the police advise pharmacies to do to protect themselves, so as not to advertise the strategy publicly, but said having some "security built in" is important. Downey acknowledged the pharmacies face a challenge as they try to balance safety and theft prevention with accessibility for their customers.

"They don't want to be in a lockdown mode," he said. "Unless you want to fortify your business, then there's not really a way" to completely prevent thefts.