What Happened

Ready Pharmacy, a now-closed retail pharmacy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, agreed to pay $400,000 to resolve civil claims that it failed to account for tens of thousands of missing controlled substance units and stored drugs unsafely.

The government's claim centered on a failure to account for more than 26,000 missing dosage units of controlled substances discovered on March 15, 2016. A DEA on-site inspection also found controlled substances that were not properly safeguarded or stored, in violation of the pharmacy's Controlled Substances Act obligations as a DEA registrant.

Under the settlement, announced February 1, 2022, Ready Pharmacy's owners agreed to pay $50,000 within 30 days and the remaining $350,000 over five years, resolving further civil or administrative claims tied to the conduct.

What Went Wrong

  • An inventory gap of this size points to a systemic failure. More than 26,000 missing dosage units is not consistent with occasional shrinkage — it suggests inventory reconciliation was not being performed with any rigor.
  • Physical security fell short. The DEA inspection separately found controlled substances stored without adequate safeguards, compounding the recordkeeping problem with a physical access risk.
  • The scale suggests the loss went undetected internally for a long period before a DEA inspection identified it.

How It Could Have Been Prevented

  • Perform regular perpetual inventory reconciliation for all Schedule II-V drugs, not only the federally required biennial inventory.
  • Store controlled substances in a securely locked, access-logged location that meets DEA physical security requirements at all times.
  • Set an internal loss threshold that triggers mandatory investigation and DEA notification well before losses reach a scale like this one.
  • Conduct periodic self-audits modeled on DEA inspection criteria to catch gaps before a regulatory inspection does.

Related Guidance

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