Investigation Uncovers Violations At Evergreen Park Pharmacy: DEA

EVERGREEN PARK, IL – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has suspended an Evergreen Park-based pharmacy federal registration, claiming the pharmacy dispensed excessive opioids and dangerous drug combinations to multiple patients that were not for medical purposes.

The suspension order was delivered Wednesday to Evergreen Park Pharmacy, located in the Mary Potter Pavilion next to OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, 2850 W. 95th St. The order suspends the pharmacy’s DEA registration, and its authority to dispense Schedule II-V controlled pharmaceutical medicines, pursuant to regulatory violations inconsistent with the public interest, the feds said.

DEA investigators said they found that Evergreen Park Pharmacy had committed “numerous regulatory violations.” A pharmacy expert from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program also reviewed the Evergreen Park Pharmacy patients’ records. According to the feds, the expert concluded that the quantities and combinations of controlled substance medications dispensed to these patients were not for legitimate medical purposes, and could have led to respiratory failure and possibly death.

A state-licensed pharmacy is entitled to apply for a DEA Registration and must maintain an approved, active registration to legally dispense controlled substance medications. If a pharmacy fails to maintain regulated professional standards when dispensing controlled substances, and continued dispensing could pose a threat to public safety, the DEA may administratively suspend and ultimately revoke the pharmacy’s registration.

The Immediate Suspension Order alleges regulatory violations. The pharmacy has a right to an administrative hearing before an Administrative Law Judge renders a final decision.