CVS Pharmacy in College Park struggles in recent months to fill prescriptions for controlled substances, including medications for ADD and ADHD, leaving University of Maryland students searching for other pharmacies to supply them with their medications.
“Just a few weeks ago, CVS didn’t have the generic form of Adderall in my dosage,” Sarah Tincher, a senior journalism major said. “The pharmacist said she was out of stock, and the pharmacy wouldn’t call my doctor to try to see if they could change my dosage or anything. I couldn’t have the name brand because it would have cost almost $200.”
“I also tried to go to the Health Center on campus,” Tincher added. “And I called four other pharmacies that didn’t have my medication before I finally got it at Rite Aid in Beltsville.”
The senior said that during her first couple of years in college, she never had a problem getting her prescriptions filled. Since this experience a few weeks ago, Tincher has not returned to the same CVS.
Theresa Brecker, a university student, has also had problems filling her prescriptions for her controlled substances at the local CVS pharmacy. “I went and they told me they were out and didn’t know when they would have any again,” the sophomore said. “They also almost laughed in my face, like I was silly for thinking they would have it.”
Brecker, too, did not return to the same CVS pharmacy after that initial visit.
LaVerne Naesea, the executive director of the Board of Pharmacy in Maryland, said people would be more likely to get their medications if they formed a relationship with a pharmacy and had their prescriptions filled at the beginning of the month.
“Those businesses who distribute medications to pharmacies are accountable for how much is being supplied,” Naesea said. “If the distributors exceed the medication limit, the Drug Enforcement Administration requires them to justify the higher volumes that are being supplied to pharmacies.”
“The DEA has no way to track the number of prescriptions distributed to pharmacies,” Barbara Carreno, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said. “The DEA doesn’t set quotas, or limits, on medications.”
Carreno said the DEA has been getting complaints from people all over the country who have gone to the same pharmacy for 10 years, or so, and are now being denied their medications. “These are frustrating reports that we have to hear from people because the whole issue is unnecessary.”
For the past few years, members of the University of Maryland’s Student Government Association have been creating initiatives and raising funds for mental health services on campus.
“It’s frustrating to see students running into roadblocks at pharmacies when we are working so hard to ensure they feel comfortable getting help and having adequate resources,” Josh Ratner, the SGA student affairs vice president and the undergraduate who takes controlled substances, said.