In March 2023, the College of Pharmacists of Ontario mandated the use of time-delay safes to store drugs following a surge in violent pharmacy robberies. Toronto police reported an 82 per cent drop in pharmacy robberies a year after the order went into effect. This strategic and widespread implementation demonstrated how effective technology can be in solving the most pressing problems in our system.
Unfortunately, although burglary is the most prominent, it is not the only form of theft that pharmacies face. Preparing from a pharmacy is not harmless. For some people, it's worth more than cash. And just like cash, people find ways to steal it beyond physical theft. Pharmacies are one of the key gateways to ensuring medicines get to the right people and do not go elsewhere. As long as we continue to rely on outdated analog communications technology, we leave the door open to prescription fraud.
In Canada, more than 250 million new and renewed prescriptions are issued by prescribers to patients each year, and the key role of pharmacies is to ensure that these medications are dispensed safely and accurately to the right patients. This means ensuring that the prescription itself written by the prescriber is valid and legal for the patient and the required indication.