stollen xanax

[maroam]

for the last few months my mom has ran out of her medication " xanax", at first she was thinking that it was her self just taking to much so she got her self a daily pill storage thing and that did not help, as she still ran out of pills. so this really upset her so we sat down with her and calculated how many she allowed her self to have a day, we then found out that she was missing +20 pills. there where only three ideas that we came up with that could be the problem.

1. that my sisters best friend was stealing them, some of her family members did do drugs heavily but because of that she states that she is really against drugs

2. some one was coming in the house and stealing them, but if that was the case we would also be missing other stuff

3. that the pharmacy is not giving her the correct amount of medication, i know that was highly unlikely that was the case because i had a friend that worked as pharmacists in collage and the way they count the medication that they would never be +20 pills off "friend told me that he never was off on the number"

so we decided that it must be the friend, so we told her that she could not come over and we went to the police to file a report.
we waited the next month so she could get a refill, she did and was planning to keep a close track of the number to see if some one was still stealing the pills. mom went to work and counted the pills, it was 15 short from the amount she was described.

so what do we do about a pharmacist steeling medication?  search online but got nothing. " talked to the Doctor about having to file a police report and told us that he has heard every excuse in the book"    

[babyscience]

This has happened to my friend before.  She takes Litium for Maniac depression and was short a weeks worth of pills.  She didnt think much about the timing when she finished her bottle but went to renew her prescription and insurance wouldnt cover it since she was a week early with the refill.  The pharmacy ended up giving her another week.  So to answer you question...Yes, they do "miscount".  Whether it was intentional or not it wasnt know.  In your mom's case it seems like the pharmacist is stealing pills since it has happened on more than one occassion.  I would talk to the store management first and say if they dont get this resolved then you will possibly go to the police.  They may do their own investigation and find who is doing it and then file charges themselves.  

[maroam]

no she did not, mom went to the pharmacist at lunch using the drive threw, then went to work and then counted them

[RockRose]

maroam,  I wouldn't have understood.  Going to the police to report a Rx drug theft on a girl isn't "narrowing down the problem".    It's reporting a crime on someone you really don't know is guilty,  you're just guessing.  

I'm still not clear on whether your sister had access to this batch of pills that have 15 missing.  

[maroam]

well my mom went to work and counted them, for the friend we told her the situation before we did any thing and she understood. it was more for narrowing down what was the problem.

we plan on going today and report it to the police  

[Tee1973]

So the friend stopped coming over and the pills still came up missing? Did you apologize to your friend?

[RockRose]

Did your sister have any access to the second bottle of pills,  or did your mother take them STRAIGHT from the pharmacy to work to count them?

[Prizma]

Is the pharmacy part of a bigger chain such as Safeway etc? You could go and complain to the manager, write the company, etc. Almost all regions/places have boards and colleges that you can file complaints with. I could help you track down the right one if you want to PM me where you are etc.

It's a sticky situation simply because Xanax is seen as an addictive drug so "any excuse in the book" is probably told in order to receive more. Unfortunately it's the pharmacist's word against yours. I agree that you should count the medication there when your mom receives it. If that's not possible or you're uncomfortable with that, start requesting the medication in blister packs. Many of the pharmacies do that now. Better yet, find another pharmacy as suggested.

Good luck!

[TT79]

If you have insurance of any kind turn them into your insurance company, they are paying for the pills. Try to speak with others who has the meds there as well and have them count theirs, go to the media if you get enough people. I would start with counting your pills right there at the pharmacy window or better yet change pharmacies. If you count them at the counter they are going to have to address the issue or I would simply give them their pills back and tell them you want them filled elsewhere.