Walgreen's Pharmacy narcotics refills, refusal to refill prescriptions Internet, Nationwide

To the person saying things like "don't just take the bottle in to have it refilled."

The doctor FAXES the prescription to them each month.  There shouldn't be ANY problem with them filling it.  But time and time and again, they always have an "excuse" to delay filling it.  If you had read my report you would know that it isn't a matter of "taking a bottle in and asking for a refill".  Please read the FULL report before posting a rebuttal, thanks.

My situation is very similar to this person's experience. I am a compliant patient with a certified pain specialist (MD) in a pain clinic and I receive a monthly prescription for pain medication. The pharmacists at Walgreens make it very, very difficult and inconvenient for me to refill my pain medications and I have even been treated in a rude and disrespectful way by their pharmacists.  I have been lied to about state laws and policy. I've had pharmacists refuse to refill my prescription with patients in the waiting area clearly able to hear and understand the transaction. It is humiliating. My personal physician recommended to me specifically NOT to use Walgreens because their experience with them was not pleasant and they consider Walgreens overly difficult. I had a pharmacist lie to me that my insurance company would not pay for my prescription (when it had approved it) and the same pharmacist who refused to fill my prescription put through to my insurance company the transaction thereby blocking my being able to go to a different pharmacy (Kroger said ..."your insurance shows you just filled this prescription". I had to inconvenience my physician to intervene, straighten out the confusion, and restore my dignity in front of a room full of patients standing in the pharmacy. The Kroger pharmacist said there was absolutely nothing wrong with filling my prescription...he did not know why Walgreens had done what they did...and even said it was deliberate. My medical doctor, too, said that Wagreens is very notorious for making it difficult to fill narcotic prescriptions and recommended I go elsewhere.

I can understand being cautious. I can understand that there are people who abuse narcotic medications. But there are legitimate reasons to use narcotic pain medications and for patients who are dealing with chronic pain and need these medications, they do not need to feel humiliated or judged when honestly filling their prescriptions. I will never return to Walgreens for my medication needs again. It is unprofessional to LIE to patients about laws and such to prevent them from filling a pain medication that is legal and acceptable.

There is rules any pharmacy has to follow to fill narcotic meds. Each refill has to have an original script (each and every time it is filled). They have to verify each script  with the doctors office. And refills can only be filled 7 days in advance ( I believe) You cant just take in the bottle that says x number of refills anymore. These are rules that all pharmacy's have to follow. It is in place to stop drug abuse but unfortunately it tends to harm the people who really need the meds.  I wish you and your wife a happy holiday!

Well, they should complete those "extra" steps in a timely manner so as not to interfere with a patients treatment.  If they need to take so many steps, then perhaps they should notify the Dr. more than 2 days in advance, if it takes more than 2 days to complete whatever "extra" steps.  And I called the Dr.'s office today and even their office said that Walgreen's gives their patients more trouble than any of the other pharmacies in town regarding narcotic pain medication.  So obviously I'm not the only one questioning their handling of these types of prescriptions.

Your title implies that they refuse to refill the prescription at all.   It does not sound like they are refusing to fill them, but taking extra steps before they fill them.  So hard to call this a true "RipOff". 

Narcotics have much tighter restrictions than other non-controlled drugs.  Just be careful about changing pharmacies.  Because since the narcotics are very tightly controlled you may not be able to change pharmacies that easily.  If the drugs are considered narcotics your same "problem" may follow you to the next pharmacy as well.  Especially if the doctor is not doing things correctly, after all what they think "should" be true may not be true.  After all they just write the prescriptions, they don't have the pills in their possession, and don't have to account for every pill that was given out.