GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Lake County pharmacy was ordered to stop distributing controlled substances following concerns of abuse surrounding one of its products.
Baldwin Pattie Drug Store is accused of ordering a variety of hydrocodone that is frequently sought with the intent to abuse them, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office – Western District of Michigan (DOJ).
“Lake County is one of Michigan’s most vulnerable communities in the ongoing opioid epidemic,” says U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “The alleged misconduct in this case violates the core tenets of responsible dispensing of opioids by a pharmacy and its pharmacists. My office remains committed to using all the tools at our disposal to protect communities from this crisis.”
The DOJ alleges the store carried the drug to be competitive with other pharmacies and knowingly gave them to patients they suspected were abusing drugs.
We’re told the store also kept inaccurate records of its dispensing operations after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) learned thousands of opioids were unaccounted for.
Baldwin Pattie Drug Store also failed to send yearly documents confirming employees were trained on federal laws concerning the sale of certain drugs, the DOJ explains.
Federal attorneys say the store and its owner were ordered to obey federal laws on dispensing controlled substances and recordkeeping. They were also ordered to turn over the store’s registration with the DEA. Furthermore, the owner was ordered to pay a $10,000–$30,000 fine and to stop distributing controlled substances for 10 years unless supervised by a different pharmacist.
