By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist
Monday, April 9, 2012
The prescription pain pill crackdown in Florida by federal agents is migrating quickly from pill mills to mainstream drug store chains. Witness last week's search of six Walgreens stores – including in Port Richey and Hudson – and its distribution center in Jupiter.
Small wonder. Red flags soared quickly at Walgreens, the country's largest drug store chain.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that in 2009 no Walgreens retail pharmacies were listed among the DEA's top 100 Florida purchasers of oxycodone – a key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan.
By 2011, 38 Walgreens made the list. By February, the total reached 53 of the top 100. So says a warrant filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
In Fort Myers, the DEA says one Walgreens pharmacy sold more than 2.1 ...