-> 
MSGID: 1:379/301.1 511510f2
-> -> RG> I've dealt with several truck drivers that have prescription
-> -> RG> drugs all mixed together in a bottle.  Our radio operators
-> -> RG> have access to a PDR, and 24hr numbers they can call for
-> -> RG> most pharmaceutical chains.  If all else fails we start
-> -> Back in the old days these might have been a lot of use
-> -> now days not much.  It wasn't that long ago you could
-> -> call a pharmacist and tell him the color and shape of a
-> -> pill and he could tell what it was, heck some pills had
-> -> their brand name stamped on them.  Now days you get a
-> RG> Actually, when we contact the originating pharmacy, radio
-> RG> gives them my Cell number.  I talk to them directly, give
-> Ah. . .but what if the person is from out of town or
-> thinks you are invading their privacy and invokes their
-> RIGHT to keep quite?  Neither of which matter if there
-> is a ZT policy in effect because you, as a street cop,
-> DO NOT have that option!
Sorry, no privacy in a commercial vehicle.  If it's found during an
inspection, the operator has to explain it.  Upheld in the USSC several
times.
As far as out of town pharmacies, how about one in Saskatchewan, they do
have phones in the outback :)
-> RG> them the customer name and they can tell me what he/she is
-> RG> supposed to have, what color shape and number is supposed to
-> Which would depend on when the scrip was filled and it
-> could be the same shape and size of several other
-> drugs.  I've never noticed the numbers on the pills so
-> that might work.
We can generally get the description of the medicine dispensed.
They keep pretty close tabs on the description of the meds dispensed at
the time of refill.  Rarely (according to my Pharmacist at Group Health)
is a tab identical to another of a similar drug.  You may have some
similarities, but the imprinted identification will be different.
All of the inquiry would be a mute issue if the person in question has
the medicine in the bottle in which it was originally dispensed.  People
just have this need to mix things up in one bottle.  As I outlined in
another message, sometimes mixing the meds can create a bad result, even
if it's residue in the bottle.
If your concerned about privacy, you do realize every time you fill a
prescription, or visit a doctor and use your health insurance, the visit
or med is reported to the MIB?  Not men in black, it's an insurance
clearing house in Georgia (I believe) that Life Insurance companies go
through to check on an applicants health record.
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