Sholar's Pharmacy In Orange Refuses To Fill Prescriptions From Pain Management Clinics

Sholar's Pharmacy in Orange has said enough is enough. The company announced this week it is no longer filling new prescriptions that come from pain management clinics. But the manager also says the company will fill existing pain medication prescriptions for its long term customers. The company will lose revenue but it's a business decision that could protect the future of the pharmacy.

It's a regular business day for Sholar's drug store but what's different is the empty waiting room.

"We tell them no you can't fill that here and they essentially leave," said Alan Thornton.

With the recent break-ins and expanding customer base, regular customers like Michael Barborek started to fear coming to Sholar's.

"Just the clientele that comes in here. They're already hungry for drugs and there's no telling what they'll do to get more," said Barborek.

In order to hang on to its customer base, Sholar's announced it would no longer fill new prescriptions for Xanax, Lorcet and Soma or the pain cocktail that come from pain management clinics.

"Our main goal is to service the community. Address their needs. Just came to a place where that was more and more difficult," said Thornton.

Pharmacies like Sholar's have gotten anywhere from 800 to a thousand prescriptions a week with the same pain cocktail prescribed to each customer.

"Being able to service that volume of people and being able to do it in a healthy environment. We felt like it was creating a conflict for our core customer base," said Thornton.

Thorton says he's sorry for the customers with legitimate pain who might not get the help they need because of the large amount of patients he says abuse the medicine.

"There are some that have legitimate pain concerns but at this point we just feel like we couldn't continue to do that," said Thornton.

It's a tough business decision he says was necessary. Even though the company will lose more than half of its revenue.

"From a business standpoint it was the right decision. We decided this was best for us," said Thornton.

A decision he says is best for the store and the people who shop there.

Sholars joins Walgreens, CVS and Orange Pharmacy in refusing to fill prescriptions from pain management clinics.

If you or someone you know has been affected by prescription drug abuse or wants to talk with us about pain management clinics call our station at 895-4692.

Or you can e-mail jholloway@kfdm.com

We'll continue looking into the issue.