where do dealers get their pills

[pharma9]

This may be a stupid question.....but where do all the dealers get their pills.I am a pharmacist and our narcotics are regulated and must be accounted for always.If i drop a pill on the floor it has to be recorded.
I know that some are stolen,but are that many stolen in robberies or do people sell their own prescriptions?
From the amounts of drugs that some people take and buy from their dealers there has to be a constant supply and where does it come from?

[pharma9]

Wow..I thought that might be going on but just am amazed at the extent of it.

[troubleinohio]

well i can only speak from my experience but the people i know that sell mostly sell their own scripts but one guy i know has his own 70something yr old mother who lives out west go in to her dr and complain about pain and get them. she then sends them to him and he sells them. Ive also heard of dealers taking vanloads of people into pain clinics at a time, having them all get scripts and fill them, give them a small amount of $ for them and then sell the rest at their profit. I would say probably most pills are redistrubuted this way and not from robberies. I also know a lot of swapping goes on..say someone has an RX for xanax or adderal they dont use..they'll trade those for opiates cuz the dealer can easily resell those as well...