Home > Community > CVS just stopped all dispensing of promethazine/codeine combinations.
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Alec Cawley

CVS just stopped all dispensing of promethazine/codeine combinations.

Daniel Chetcuti  Follow
I work for a pbm and we get people asking us to request this from Dr all the time and for help with prior authorization. Now I know why.More
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Dave Obrien  Follow
If cvs stops doing something that is bad, then everyone else should have stopped a year agoMore
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Daniel Shai  Follow
This is fucking stupid smhMore
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Mdrokon Uzzaman  Follow
WtfMore
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Leslie Acres  Follow
More for Walmart and Walgreens to fill. Promethazine/codeine along with immediate release oxycodone should be withdrawn from the US market. They present a danger to pharmacies that stock them....More
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Jeffrey Kerze  Follow
Walmart stopped too.More
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Darshan Aryal  Follow
Rite aid stopped a while ago tooMore
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Morgan Falk  Follow
I thought it was dispensed OTC, behind the counter? Maybe it’s a state by state reg.More
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Jayne Cravens  Follow
Edit- I wrote without thinking. It’s Robitussin with codeine, not Tylenol.More
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George Baiev  Follow
It can be sold OTC depending on the state law, with various levels of documentation needed, but no one actually does it lolMore
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Dr. Melih Aygun  Follow
Are you thinking about guaifenesin and codeine? Up to 4 oz in a stock bottle and need to keep a log of who purchases in Georgia, not sure of other states.More
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Jalen Collins  Follow
That’s Tylenol with codeine. Even regular promethazine is rx only, no way would it be sold otcMore
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Colin Bruton  Follow
CVS sold promethazine/codeine combinations??More
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David Hague  Follow
You know what? I dont know why this is on my front page, but fuck cvs. My dog was dying of some kind of horrible cough. The vet prescribed a codeene based cough syrup I had to get from a people pharmacy. They gave me no end of shit about it, and I went to walgreens and they just gave it to me, no whining or hemming or hawing at all. I always go to walgreens now even though there is less walgreens locations than cvs here. CVS is rude and shitty. Also, once, my cat George got prescribed a herpes medication. Yes, cats get herpes. Anyway, they were loud about announcing that George's herpes medication was ready. I have since named all my cats cat names rather than human names.More
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Jean Morris  Follow
It's sounds so likely that they yelled, "George, your herpes medication is ready!"More
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Evan Long, MPH  Follow
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. I completely agree with you. Specifically the fuck CVS part.More
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Harold Kyriazi  Follow
I’m sorry you had a terrible experience with CVS, really just depends on the store and staff.More
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Jim Auger  Follow
Pets dont have HIPAA rights. They can totally announce whatever about your pet over the intercom.More
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Frank Ferrarini  Follow
Totally believable.More
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Andrew Silverman  Follow
Promethazine is OTC hereMore
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Dave Busby  Follow
So just WAGS left to go. With all the robberies over this stuff, it was inevitable.More
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Dirk Kok  Follow
I had an erx come through that was super sketch. Pt out of state address and MD was several cities away. When I called the doctor, the doc did not sound professional and didn’t understand common lingo. I was puzzled how they would fake an erx? I just told they guy we are out of stock. There was no pushback.More
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Helen Appiah  Follow
Could be a shitty doctor. A CA doc was notorious for this for a couple years before the DEA shut him down. I spoke with that doc once via phone - he was definitely unprofessional (threatened me with a BoP complaint for not filling his BS pint of prometh/codeine for what could best be described as Schrodinger's pneumonia; I replied by telling him that was fine, because I'd already filed a complaint with the DEA. He did not pursue it.)More
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James Houk  Follow
Ppl in clinics and md offices have access to escribe software. Md won't notice a phantom profile that's created.More
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Giancarlo Bellucci  Follow
Oof, I'd bet money it was faked. Unfortunately people have been faking eRx scripts for a couple years now.More
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John Findlow  Follow
(Schrodinger's pneumonia: bad enough that it required a pint of promethazine with codeine, but good enough that the patient needed no other treatment except maybe a z-pak, and was perfectly fine traveling, being diagnosed over the phone, and required no follow-up.)More
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Joe Webster  Follow
Doc’s swore they weren’t sending them, and didn’t know the patients. But valid escripts we’re coming through under their names. Never found out the outcome of that investigationMore
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Dan Gall  Follow
To top it off, the guy asked me after how to become a tech he promised he has no intentions of trying to divert meds. Sure.More
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Jon R  Follow
Weird I wonder if it’s the same one who tried to start a DM chat with me a month or two ago. I didn’t reply because all they said was “are you a pharmacy tech?”More
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Fefe Sitz  Follow
I wonder if it’s that druggie that was giving people here a hard time last year and was asking us to sell him promethazine with codeine. He eventually got doxxed because someone found his address and name in his profile on one of his vials, so he was a dumbass, and then he deleted his account but I suspect he is back. Or maybe it’s another drug dealer from lean . That dude you talked to doesn’t sound smart if they’re admitting to drug diversion and asking to become a tech in the same sentence. I thought if you wanted to do drugs you’d at least do your research first.More
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Hayne Kang (???)  Follow
i think i know who/what you’re talking about!More
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Deep & Dark Web  Follow
I was happy to hear about it. Saves me a lot of phone calls trying to play detective.More
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Dave LaFrenere  Follow
Walmart stopped like a year agoMore
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Brian Lami  Follow
How about Walgreens?More
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Jason Gu  Follow
Hopefully they should be stopping it soonMore
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Allison Kosters  Follow
Walmart doesn’t allow it either but it’s only specifically the syrup. Doctors can write promethazine DM syrup and Tylenol w codeine as a separate script and that’s no problem!More
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Baba Vickram Aditya Bedi  Follow
So my boyfriend is a pharmacist for Walgreens- one night he was working an overnight shift & in the middle of the night these two guys come inside, walked back to the pharmacy & held a gun up & told him to give him all the “lean” he had. By this time they already had the front cashier tied up & standing next to them. The overnight manager was taking their LUNCH & was apparently in the break room the entire time this was happening- had NO IDEA any of it was going on. My bf complied of course, however he gave them all the bottles they had- WITHOUT codeine. The dudes had NO CLUE. Once they ran off w/ the bottles & every other control substance, they tied my bf up. Eventually he was able to wiggle his knife from his back pocket & set himself free to call 911. I told him he was lucky. Oh & also one of those “famous YouTube” video ppl. lol bc of course the whole things portrayed on there. & they STILL haven’t caught the dudes… This was like two years ago. :woman_shrugging_light_skin_tone:More
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Alec Smith  Follow
Pour one out for leanMore
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Dimitra Tsiovolou  Follow
Several other places have done that already... There have been a ton of thefts/robberies and it seems anecdotally like 3/4 of the prescriptions presented for it are either outright fake or of questionable medical necessityMore
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Jared Maloney  Follow
Yeah my pharmacy stopped filling these rxs over a year and a half ago because of this and we’re a smallish/but majoronline pharmacy. The fact that CVS, one of the most prominent pharmacy chains in the US is only now stopping this…More
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Greg Easter  Follow
Wow I had no idea this was a prevalent issue! It makes good business sense I guess, especially with so many people casually robbing pharmacies these days out of desperationMore
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Extraterrestrials  Follow
In my years here, I’ve probably had 15-18 fake ones, and probably 2-3 legit ones.More
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Even Hugh  Follow
Is a cough syrup ever a medical necessity?More
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Elizabeth Robinson  Follow
Great set up for me to be pedantic!More
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Dompreh John  Follow
Kudos to them. First thing I have seen out of CVS that seemed like a darn good idea.More
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Jim H.  Follow
understaffing intensifiesMore
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Dennis Jackman  Follow
Since I live in Canada, I can get promethazine tablets OTC.. I don't get why people abuse it though.. it's really not that special.More
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Jayarava Attwood  Follow
smoking goddamn tummy ache and codeine liquid.. I can’t deal :face_with_tears_of_joy:More
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Janice Ernster  Follow
It’s the codeine/syrup part that draws them, not the prometh. Where I’m from “robo” blunts are a huge thing. Ppl will put the syrup or “lean” on them and get f*cked up.More
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Jim Austin  Follow
We have to limit benadryl and lock up tide pods.More
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Gerald Nthuli  Follow
People will smoke/snort/drink/inject just about anything to try and get a buzzMore
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Atilla  Follow
Can they legally do this…? Technically they can be seen as denying pts medication… coming at it from the pharmacy side not the pt sideMore
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Frank Wogel  Follow
They’re a private company. They can pick and choose what they stock all day long. The legal obligation is met when you try to provide an alternative to a patient by Informing the doctor on what you do carry, or directing them to another pharmacy. This notion that because we can legally dispense drugs therefore we have to dispense any and all by law needs to stop.More
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Fahim ul Haq  Follow
Just because you get a prescription doesn’t mean I have to stock it. That’s like saying you wanna get your cheap ass car fixed at a Audi Shop, they’re gonna laugh you out of thereMore
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Eric Snyder  Follow
I thought that too, but then I realized: CVS is the biggest pharmacy in America. I’m sure their legal team sorted this all out. CVS doesn’t do stupid mistakes like that.More
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Andy Fletcher  Follow
Bartell’s stopped in 2015. Im glad the larger chains are starting to do the sameMore
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