It's pretty much a daily occurrence in the United States. Someone — usually an addict — walks into a pharmacy brandishing a weapon and threatens to hurt someone if they are not given prescription painkillers. Sometimes people get hurt and even killed in these criminal acts. In one occurrence last year, a man in the process of robbing pain pills from a pharmacy on Long Island killed four people.
Another case in New York City last week, in which one of two robbers was killed in a shootout, has led to calls for the Senate to pass the Safe Doses Act. The legislation, if written into law, would impose harsher penalties for robbing drugstores including jail terms of up to three years for thefts of products valued at less than $5,000 and up to 20 years for amounts above that. Thieves can also be sued in civil court for up to $1 million.