The Pharmacy Chick

Flying the Coop in Retail

What’s up with the Schedule II’s?

Filed under: Uncategorized — pharmacychick at 9:01 am on Saturday, February 23, 2008

I was putting the order away recently and I just happened to notice my C-II cabinet. We have way too many drugs in there. No, we aren’t overstocked, we just use way too many C-II’s in my opinion. When I took my first job, the II’s consisted of the basic few: Percocet, Percodan, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Ritalin, Dexedrine and a few others. They weren’t used often and it was a common occurrence to outdate. Back then Tylenol 3 or Darvocet N-100 owned the pain business and if a Dr prescribed something stronger, you had better be in serious pain. We almost never used ADD meds.

Fast forward to 2008. Not only do I have a cabinet bursting at the seams but I have expanded to a drawer as well. Every trip to the dentist gets some Percocet or Oxycodone, and I have an embarrassing number of kids (and adults) on ADD drugs. I don’t order weekly anymore, I order daily. It looks like a virtual salad bar of amphetamines and opiates in that cabinet.

I have to wonder, what has happened in one generation that has turned what used to be extraordinary drugs for special circumstances into the commonplace?

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2 Comments »

26

Comment by Lois RPh

February 23, 2008 @ 1:58 pm

I could not agree with you more! I work in a small clinic pharmacy in a big-city suburb. We have thick folders full of pre-signed Rx’s for all our ADD kids (so Mom doesn’t have to worry about maybe calling in a day ahead, before the kid is out — heaven forbid.)
I see more and more oxycodone — we have a surgeon who prescribes Oxycontin for his knee-replacement surgeries. All these C-II’s used to be only for high-powered stuff — now they are everyday drugs. It is very worrisome.

33

Comment by Chris, Pharm.D.

March 1, 2008 @ 8:20 pm

When i worked retail, over half of the safe was devoted to methylphenidate and amphetamines. When, I started pharmacy school, there were only a couple of bottles of the stuff in the safe.

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