On September 14, the Drug enforcement Agency shut down shipments of oxycodone which is a controlled substance at a Walgreens facility in Florida after suspiciously detecting a high number of sales on pain killers at a half-dozen Walgreens store in the states. Like any other retail pharmacies, Walgreens would receive scam orders from customers who would come back after two weeks to refill a 30-day prescription or  ordering two different prescriptions from two different doctors. They even have customers making up their own prescriptions. In the system, the computer has the ability to track down their customers prescriptions to see how often they would come back, and their profile. The illegal diversion of oxycodone was likely the result of a person or persons trying to “game the system with fake orders,” said Brian Kilcourse, a managing partner for retail consultant RSR Research.

I think it’s interesting how Walgreens or any other retail pharmacies has this type of technology to track down their customer’s prescription, what I don’t get is any getting the prescription several times shouldn’t the system flag the customers account to prevent them from ordering further prescriptions. I have no idea how retail pharmacy works, but as I recall revisiting the doctor a while ago, I noticed they only give you a sheet with the prescriptions they want me to pick up from any pharmacy, the only legitimate thing I saw from the piece of paper is the doctor’s name, address of the clinic, and a logo, and the drugs he told me to prescribe. I went to a Walgreens as well to drop off my prescription they just take the sheet and ask me to come back in half hour or next day pick up. I’m just curious how these a vulnerability in the supply chain management system and technology may have created an opportunity to divert oxycodone from one of the pharmacy chains and into the black market.