Kenneth McCall interviewed for AP story on drop in pharmacy robberies for 2013

Kenneth McCall, Pharm.D., UNE associate professor and chairman of the pharmacy practice, was interviewed for a June, 10, 2013 Associated Press story on reports that pharmacy robberies are down in Maine for the year although the use of street heroin is up. The story appeared in a number of regional news outlets, including the Boston Globe and Portland Press Herald. 

Robberies have dropped from a total of 56 last year to only five so far this year.

McCall, who is president of the Maine Pharmacy Association, told the reporter that this year's steep drop is a relief for the state's 324 licensed pharmacies. Robberies are traumatic and have caused some pharmacists to sell their businesses or change career paths, he said.

"Last year was not just a record year, but it was an alarming trend because 2012 exceeded 2011, and 2011 exceeded 2010, and 2010 exceeded 2009," McCall said. "In consecutive years we've seen escalating numbers of pharmacy robberies, so the positive trend in the first half of this year is a very important step in the right direction."  Read the entire story in the Globe.