My wife has a regular prescription for a class C narcotic (the kind the DEA closely regulates). Due to the nature of the prescription, she has to pick up the prescription in person from the doctor and deliver it to a specific Walgreens pharmacy on a monthly basis. She's used to dealing with all the hassle of being prescribed a controlled substance

This month her prescription ran out a week early. She takes two pills per day. This afternoon (4pm CST on 26 October 2010), she noticed that she was 13 pills short of what she needed to finish this month. First, she spoke with the doctor, who predictably and correctly informed her that he could not prescribe a refill until the month was up, but suggested she speak with the pharmacy.

That's when the fun started. She immediately called the Walgreens pharmacy to ask what could be done in the situation. The pharmacist asked her if she lived alone. No, she replied, she's married. Well then, says the pharmacist, then you may want to check to see if someone else in your household is taking your medications. The pharmacist didn't even beat around the bush and ask if she miscounted, or if she was taking the pills more often than prescribed (she isn't - one in the morning, one in the evening, as directed).

Of course my wife responded that no one else is taking her pills (it's just the two of us, and I hate to even take ibuprofen). The pharmacist said that in his experience, people will deny that, and he could pretty much guarantee someone was taking her pills. My wife asked if it was possible they miscounted. No, they double check the count. The pharmacist ended the call by saying Walgreens couldn't have made a mistake, and suggested my wife deal with the person who is taking her pills.

This leaves us both livid at being accused of theft, but even worse, my wife does not have sufficient medication to regulate the pain caused by her rheumatoid arthritis. The medicine also has nasty withdrawal symptoms if a patient suddenly quits taking the prescribed dosage, such as when the pharmacy shorts the prescription and refuses to refill it.

A quick search on complaints.com turned up several instances of Walgreens shorting prescriptions on a regular basis, even those marked as double or triple counted. Obviously we will be counting the pills on the counter with the pharmacist watching before we leave in the future, assuming we even return to Walgreens.

The Walgreens location in question is store 4989 in Springfield, Missouri. Fortunately, my wife did also get the pharmacist's name and we've included that in our communication with Walgreens corporate.

Now the question is, what can we do? Its our word against theirs, but thanks to the stringent controls on the medication, the burden of proof is entirely on us. At best, we might get an apology for the baseless accusations against us.