CVS Pharmacy Fined $75 Million for Allowing Large Quantities of Pseudoephedrine Sales
in Violation of Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act.

CVS Pharmacy Inc. has agreed to pay $75-million in fines for allowing repeated purchases of a key ingredient in the making of methamphetamine in at least five states that also led to a spike in Southern California drug trafficking, authorities said Thursday.

The largest U.S. operator of retail pharmacies will pay what federal prosecutors said is the largest civil penalty under the Controlled Substances Act.

The company also will forfeit about $2.6-million in profits earned from the sales of pseudoephedrine, which can often be found in cold medicine and is used to make meth.

Authorities said CVS didn’t provide enough safeguards to monitor how much pseudoephedrine someone was buying, and the company violated federal drug regulations Arizona, Georgia, California, Nevada, and South Carolina and possibly 20 other states.

“This case shows what happens when companies fail to follow their ethical and legal responsibilities,” said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. “CVS knew it had a duty to prevent methamphetamine trafficking, but it failed to take steps to control the sale of a regulated drug used by methamphetamine cooks as an essential ingredient for their poisonous stew.”

The company was expected to pay the $75-million fine by Friday. The remaining forfeiture is due within 30 days.

          Some executive at CVS should be prosecuted criminally for this gross megligence and maybe this will wise up the industry to
          obey the law

http://flapsblog.com/2010/10/14/cvs-pharmacy-fined-75-million-for-allowing-large-quantities-of-pseudoephedrine-sales- in-violation-of-combat-methamphetamine-epidemic-act/