PORT ANGELES — The Walgreens pharmacies in Port Angeles and Sequim are among 114 in the state that have installed time-delayed safes in response to robberies for the powerful painkiller OxyContin.
The security devices take several minutes to open, halting immediate access to the prescription narcotic.
That wait gives law enforcement more time to arrive and also means that security cameras installed in all Walgreens stores will get better pictures of robbers.
OxyContin security
The drug store chain is investing heavily in the security measure because OxyContin robberies in the state are the most in the nation for the company, said Robert Elfinger, a Walgreens spokesman in Deerfield, Ill.
Walgreens activated the safes Saturday.
Vivian Brown, who manages the Port Angeles Walgreens pharmacy, 932 E. Front St., and Sequim Walgreens pharmacy, 490 W. Washington St., confirmed that the two local stores installed the safes on Saturday.
She declined to comment further, citing company policy, and referred inquiries to company spokesman Brian Choi.
Choi was not available for comment.
Pharmacists at the Port Angeles Rite Aid pharmacy at 621 S. Lincoln St., and the Port Townsend Safeway pharmacy, 442 W. Sims Way, declined to say whether or not time-release safes were being used.
The manager of Don’s Pharmacy at 1151 Water St., Port Townsend, was not available for comment.
Ron Cameron, chief criminal deputy in the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department, thinks the safes are a good idea.
“I can’t see it not helping,” Cameron said.
“If bad guys know it will delay their ability to get in and out in a robbery setting, I think it’ll be pretty effective.”
Delay robbers
The delay will keep the robber at the station too long, Cameron said. City police would be “on the back” of someone waiting around for a safe to open, he added.
There have been about a dozen robberies at Walgreens stores in the Spokane area alone since last fall, often at gunpoint or knifepoint.
One pill of OxyContin, an opium-based narcotic that produces a heroin-like high when injected, snorted or smoked, can fetch as much as $100 on the black market.
Other pharmacies are also getting hit. Last year, Medicine Man pharmacies in Liberty Lake and northern Idaho stopped keeping OxyContin in stores. Customers must provide about a day’s notice, and employees pick up the drug at an offsite location. No robberies have been reported since the change.
Not stocking the drug isn’t an option for Walgreens, Elfinger said, because so many people depend on it as a pain medication.
Walgreens is also working with government agencies to toughen state penalties for pharmacy robberies, he said.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladaily news.com.
