SANFORD, Fla. – The Drug Enforcement Administration suspended two Sanford CVS stores and a wholesale distributor from selling certain controlled substances at a press conference Monday afternoon.
DEA officials said the pharmacies, located at the 3000 block of Orlando Drive and at the 4000 block of West First Street, were each filling prescriptions far in excess of legitimate needs of its customers.
DEA officials raided the two pharmacies on Saturday after more than a year of investigation.
'The amount of Oxycodone by these two pharmacies is in such excess of what is normal that it causes red flags to be raised," said DEA agent Mark Trouville.
The average pharmacy in the U.S. ordered approximately 69,000 oxycodone pills in 2011, the DEA said. Collectively, the two pharmacies, which are located just over 5 miles apart, ordered 3 million oxycodone pills during the same time period.
Officials said at the press conference that the CVS pharmacies knew or should have known a large number of prescriptions for oxycodone weren't issued for legitimate purposes.
The DEA said the illegitimate prescriptions should have been obvious, with in many cases the word "oxycodone" was spelled wrong. In other cases, a group of people would walk in with the same prescription from the same doctor for the same exact problem.
Also included in the investigation is Cardinal Health, which the DEA said was distributing oxycodone to the two CVS pharmacies in question.
The DEA said that Cardinal Health, one of the nation's largest prescription drug distributors, should have known there were illegitimate prescriptions at the two CVS pharmacies.
"DEA does not, has never does not and will not ever target doctors or pharmacists or pharmacies, DEA targets drug dealers." Trouville said.
Friday's operation at the Lakeland facility is not DEA's first visit. According to a release,in December 2007, DEA issued an ISO at the location due to its distribution of hydrocodone to ‘rogue' internet pharmacies. That action, and similar actions at other Cardinal Health facilities across the United States, resulted in a $34 million fine. $16 million of this amount was paid to the United States Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida.
Cardinal Health and the two CVS Pharmacy locations will be given an opportunity for an administrative hearing to determine whether the DEA Certificate of Registration at each of the three locations should be revoked, according to a release.
The final decision will be published in the Federal Register.
More than seven million Americans abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2010 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And every day, on average, 2,500 teens use them to get high for the first time, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
No arrests have been made in connection to the raids, but the DEA said there could be some in the future.