As part of an ongoing commitment to support law enforcement and build safer communities, CVS Health recently announced the installation of time delay safe technology in all 838 CVS Pharmacy locations throughout Florida, including those in Target stores.
The safes help prevent pharmacy robberies and the potential for associated diversion of controlled substance medications — including opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone — by electronically delaying the time it takes for pharmacy employees to open the safe. In addition, the safes help improve the safety and well-being of CVS Pharmacy customers and employees.
The company’s rollout of time delay safe technology is in support of partnerships with local and state law enforcement and the retail community to fight back against escalating organized retail crime.
“Supporting law enforcement efforts in their battle against organized retail crime remains a key focus for our company,” said CVS Region Director Ricardo Lopez during a news conference at a CVS Pharmacy in Miami-Dade County. “Criminal activities that organized retail crime rings fund are a clear danger to our communities, so it is important that retailers, law enforcement and political leaders work together to solve this problem.”
CVS Health first implemented time delay safe technology in 2015 in CVS Pharmacy locations across Indianapolis, a city experiencing a high volume of pharmacy robberies at the time. The company saw a 70 percent decline in pharmacy robberies in that area. Since then, there has been a 50 percent decline in robberies at CVS Pharmacy locations with the safes.
The CVS Health time delay safe program is among many company initiatives to address and prevent prescription medication misuse and diversion. The company supports over 3,700 safe medication disposal units in CVS Pharmacy locations nationwide. As of April 2023, these medication disposal units, along with those the company has donated to local law enforcement agencies, have collected more than five million pounds of unwanted or expired medications that might otherwise have been diverted, misused, or ended up in the water supply. The 216 safe medication disposal units located in Florida have collected more than 237,000 pounds of unwanted and expired medication.
“I am very proud of our private sector partner for thinking and implementing innovative ways to fight organized retail crime. Local, state, and federal law enforcement partners continuously collaborate with our retail industry to minimize the economic impact to all of our residents. We strive to encourage all of the members in the retail industry to join the fight against organized retail crime,” said Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez, Miami-Dade Police Department.
“We are proud to support CVS Health in its endeavor to make our retail pharmacies a safe place to shop and work. Time delay safes will not only work to combat the opioid epidemic and prevent criminal activity, but it will also save lives. Thank you for helping to safeguard your CVS Pharmacy stores to strengthen safety at retail pharmacies in Florida,” said Scott Shalley, CEO of Florida Retail Federation.
CVS Health also announced that nearly two million students and parents have learned about the dangers of misusing medications through the company’s free prescription drug abuse prevention education programs, Pharmacists Teach and Dose of Knowledge, including more than 85,000 Floridians.
Through Pharmacists Teach, CVS pharmacists work with schools in their communities to help educate children from kindergarten to grade 12 about the dangers of prescription medication misuse and abuse. To further amplify the program’s impact, CVS Health partnered with Discovery Education to expand resources and access through Dose of Knowledge, a program which provides no-cost standards-aligned resources to empower educators and pharmacists to address substance misuse and educate students to make good decisions about their health. The program has resources for parents and students as well.
