VIOLENCE
PhaRmacIStS tOday aRE ON thE 'fRONt lINE' whEN It cOmES tO dEalINg wIth dRUg addIctS
PhaRmacIStS: ON thE fRONt lINE
R
etail pharmacies may be in the news a lot these days, but, unfortunately, it is not the kind
of news anyone wants to hear. there are regular reports of pharmacies that have been burglarised and of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and other staff who have been shot or attacked. with a vast supply of medicines contained within one store, addicts see the pharmacy as a treasure trove of drugs, there for the taking.
there's no doubt that today's pharmacists are prime targets for violence, and while pharmacy staff are remarkably resilient and often
12 - PhaRmacy IN fOcUS
completely dismiss concerns over their health or well-being, attacks do take their toll, with staff often left rattled for a time and owners in a heightened state of anxiety over their employees.
while violence against pharmacists is an increasing problem and a constant hazard in today's market, the problem isn’t, of course, singular to Northern Ireland. take the USa, for example. Over the last few months alone, a robber held a knife to the throat of a pharmacist at a 24-hour walgreens store in hamilton, Ohio, while, in mid-august, a man dressed as a woman held up Remco Pharmacy in arlington, texas. Unfortunately,
the pharmacist was shot (but not killed) by the robber.
On 1 august, meanwhile, a man and woman robbed the Swan Serv-U Pharmacy in wauwatosa, wisconsin at gunpoint. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison for armed robbery.
closer to home, in 2012, Peter tinkler from the Royal mile Pharmacy in Edinburgh was subjected to what is probably the first 'suicide by police' experienced in pharmacy in the Uk, when two addicts came into his pharmacy at closing time, forced him to put down the shutter and
pretended to pour petrol along the front of the shop to make the police outside think they were about to set fire to the pharmacy. In the meantime, the male intruder held two Stanley knives to Pete's neck while the female intruder ingested many drugs.
NI pharmacists are certainly no strangers to attacks... In august of this year, a large masked man entered mcmullans (clear) Pharmacy on the lisburn Road in Belfast and demanded tablets from the staff.
the robbery followed a car theft earlier that afternoon, when a
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