By Richard M. Sullivan

Copyright hoodline

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago laid down the law on Allcare Discount Pharmacy, hammering out a $250,000 settlement for the Logan Square business’s alleged slip-ups with the Controlled Substances Act. According to the official release, a DEA inspection turned up some sketchy record-keeping at Allcare; inventory for serious meds like hydrocodone-acetaminophen and alprazolam were all over the map, and it seems the joint wasn’t too tight on making sure those pills didn’t wander off into the wrong hands.

All this loose handling set the stage for a couple of Allcare’s own pharmacy techs playing the villain—sneaking out over 56,000 hydrocodone pills between 2015 and 2017, then making a buck off them on the sly, and cover-up stories were crafted to keep the operation quiet, however, their scheme fell apart, pleads of guilty to federal drug charges ensued and prison sentences were handed down in 2019, with slammers slamming shut for five and one years respectively. It’s like the DEA laid out a breadcrumb trail, and Allcare’s house of cards came tumbling down.

Despite the drama, Allcare isn’t copping to any wrongdoing, and Uncle Sam isn’t saying his case was bulletproof either. But, at the end of the day, Allcare’s coughing up the cash and has already gotten its act together per a Memorandum of Agreement with the DEA, which had them tighten up their record books and make sure their pill count adds up. Andrew S. Boutros, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Shane Catone, the DEA bigwig in Chicago, were the ones to drop the gavel on this case, with a little help from Assistant U.S. Attorney Valerie R. Raedy and the ACE Unit enforcers.

“Pharmacies must take their responsibilities under the Controlled Substances Act seriously and comply with security protocols and proper oversight to prevent diversion of controlled substances,” Boutros stated as per the Justice Department, driving home the point that the feds are watching and they’re not keen on pharmacies turning a blind eye to where their drugs end up. And, really, in an era where opioid abuse is still a heavyweight problem, it’s no wonder the DEA’s keeping a hawk eye on the pharmacies—that’s where the rubber meets the road in keeping legal meds legal and out of the enterprising hands of the street market.