The New York Times reports that Maine is among a handful of states where pharmacies are increasingly targeted by armed robbers seeking opioid painkillers and other drugs, both to feed their own addictions and to sell on the street.
“The robbers are brazen and desperate,” the story reports.” In Rockland, Me., one wielded a machete as he leapt over a pharmacy counter to snatch the painkiller oxycodone, gulping some before he fled.”
As pharmacists and drug store owners look to safeguard their personal safety, law enforcement officials are turning to sophisticated technologies to track down robbers.
Pharmacies in Bingham, Rockland, Lewiston and Biddeford are featured in the story.