More than half a million prescription drugs are stolen each year
More than half a million prescriptions drugs are stolen from pharmacies each year, with the majority being highly addictive opioid painkillers that end up on the street, according to an analysis of Health Canada data by CBC News.
The analysis found that overall, 1.8 million doses of controlled drugs were reported missing to Health Canada in the first nine months of 2017, a 64 per cent increase from 2012, when 1.1 million doses went missing.
A majority of the nearly nine million doses that were stolen or unaccounted for over those five years were highly addictive opioid painkillers, such as oxycodone, hydromorphone and codeine. In about one-third of the cases, there was no explanation for how they went missing.
Some of the missing drugs inevitably end up on the black market, where they are in high demand by those addicted to opioids who can’t get them by prescription.
This is almost certainly the case for the more than 500,000 pills or patches stolen each year, authorities say.
A crushable form of oxycodone can fetch between $40 and $80 on the street, according to Det.-Const. Chris Auger, who works with the drug enforcement unit of the Ontario Provincial Police.
The value usually climbs higher outside the big cities. A fentanyl patch, which can be cut into multiple smaller doses, might fetch $250 in downtown Toronto but $400 in Sarnia, Ont., Auger said.
Opioids are also sometimes used as a street currency, which also increases their value, Auger said.
Ontario’s pharmacies saw the most significant increase in losses, especially due to theft, in recent years.
Health Canada began inspecting pharmacies in 2015 to make sure drug loss reporting rules are being followed. Security-related problems were the most common violations noted by inspectors in 2016-17, according to the program’s annual report.
“Most observations were of a minor or non-critical nature,” the report states. “However, in some cases, inspectors found that controlled substances were stored in unsecured locations, meaning that the potential for diversion was higher.”
Health Canada declined an interview request but attributed the increase in reported losses to the agency’s stepped-up inspections, which started in 2015.
Pharmacies have become better informed of their obligation to report losses and are therefore reporting more of them, spokesperson Maryse Durette said in an emailed statement.
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