I hate junkies.
One of the first things we learned when we were getting into the nitty-gritty shit in the pharmacy tech training was how, as health care professionals, we were not there to judge people. We were there to care for them, to help them to get or stay healthy. And to be really honest, I’ve tried to remain nonjundgemental every time some junkie comes in and buys a pack of syringes.
But seriously people, when you come in on a Friday, eyes all twitchy, and ask one of the following, all of which we got TODAY:
- “Yeah, can I get a pack of 1cc syringes with a 1 inch tip?”
- “I need a pack of syringes with a 1 inch spike”
- “Can I get a pack of 100 cc syringes with a long stem?”
we’re going to assume that you’re a user. Do you know why? Because our diabetic patients come in knowing what the hell they’re looking for, and they don’t ask for the biggest needles we have. Or don’t have, as the case may be, since the company that makes our syringes doesn’t make insulin syringes that long, you fucking numbskull, because insulin injection is subcutaneous, not IV. And I really, really wish I could give that guy a 100cc syringe. I may as well attach a needle to a fucking turkey baster. Sometimes when they come in asking for “the longest spike you have” I want to pull out one of the big ass 10ccx1.5″ syringes we’ve got gathering dust, but I’m actually more afraid that their eyes would light up as though they’d just hit the junkie jackpot.
In an effort to make things as annoying as possible, Supertech and I are passive aggressive in our own ways. Supertech overcharges them, whereas I will give them the shortest, tiniest, thinnest needle possible. I’m all for clean needles over the counter, but we’ll make it as painful as possible.
Speaking of junkies… today, StressedRPh had to deal with Mr. R. Mr. R is a regular of ours, and his daughter is about 30 but acts 10. Every time Mr. R comes in he has another issue, most often concerning something involving his daughter, who is a pill-popping, doctor-jumping, pharmacy-hopping junkie. The topic of today’s visit was “Why can’t my daughter get her Xanax 5 days early?” Now, Mr. R knows his daughter has a problem. He’s aware that if he allows her to keep her meds, she will abuse them. She’s in a day treatment program, and has been into inpatient programs as well. Alas, Mr. R seems to see no problem with his daughter trying to get her Xanax 2 weeks early, after she’d just gotten it filled 1 week early by scamming another store into letting her pay cash for it. And just this afternoon he got a lesson in narcotics when StressedRPh said something about how he might want to keep an eye on her ADHD meds, since they’re a CII narcotic.
Oh lord did the shit hit the fan with that statement. Mr. R. wanted to know why it was a narcotic, whether or not it was an addictive drug, and whether or not it was something that could be abused. Once we established that his daughter has never been early with the ADHD drug, but that it was unusual to prescribe to someone who already had a substance abuse problem (ie. overdosing on Percocet, constantly early on the other drugs, etc), he said the stupidest thing I’d heard all day: “Well, if she can control herself with the ADHD drug and that’s classified as more addictive, shouldn’t she be ok controlling her access to the Xanax?” Um, no. 
