PROVIDENCE – R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that he has negotiated a $300,000 settlement from Rite Aid for filling prescriptions of Schedule III controlled substances beyond their statutory limits.
The agreement was the result of an investigation by the attorney general’s office, the R.I. State Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s Providence Resident Office. The investigation was initiated by the DEA based on information that fraudulent prescriptions were being used to overprescribe the controlled substances.
Rite Aid admitted to dispensing the controlled substances, including Dronabinol, Butabital-Apsirin-Caffeine, and Butalbital-Acetaminophen-Caffeine (commercially known as Fioricet), in excess of 100 dosage units, which is the maximum allowed to be delivered at any one time. The dispensing of the illegally large number of pills were based on prescriptions that illegally called for that many pills to be delivered.
“Each player in the pharmaceutical supply chain – from manufacturers and distributors to physicians and pharmacies – has a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the Controlled Substances Act regardless of an action or directive of another player,” said Kilmartin in prepared remarks. “Those bad actors who profit from the illegal distribution of controlled substances, regardless if it is an individual or a corporation, should be required to forfeit monies that can then be put toward funding programs to help those who suffer with substance use,” Kilmartin added.
The money from the settlement is expected to be used by the attorney general’s office to help implement programs for the prevention, treatment and recovery efforts relating to substance abuse, as well as for law enforcement safety measures, according to the release from the attorney general’s office.