Increase in Prescription Drug Addiction Fuels Increase in Pharmacy Robberies

According to a recent study on drug trends in the Seattle/King County area, last year, more people died from overdoses of prescription drugs, such as Percocet and Vicodin, than died from heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine overdoses.  Of the 256 overdose deaths reported in 2008, 153 of them (or 59%) were related to prescription drugs -- more than twice as many as were related to cocaine (71 overdose deaths) and 11 times as many as were related to methamphetamine (13 overdose deaths). Treatment admissions relating to prescription drugs increased from 87 in 1999 to 614 in 2008.

This study supports a corresponding increase in the number of pharmacy robberies reported in King County, which according to some reports have doubled in the past two years, ranking Washington state as 7th in the nation for pharmacy robberies.

Infamous bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked by a reporter why he robbed banks, said, "Because that's where the money is."  Today, the money is in the pharmacy, with the street value of some pharmaceutical drugs like OxyContin at $1 per milligram ($40 to $80 per standard tablet).

The PAO has been working with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, local law enforcement, and retail pharmacies to address this growing problem by better coordinating the investigation and prosecution of these cases, and by working on proposed legislation to increase the penalties for pharmacy robberies so that a first-time conviction for an unarmed pharmacy robbery earns a three-year instead of a three-to-nine month sentence.

To read the entire study on drug trends, click here.

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