Rite Aid Corporation and Subsidiaries Agree to Pay $5 Million in Civil Penalties to Resolve Violations in Eight States of the Controlled Subs...( WASHINGTON Jan. 12 -- Rite Aid Corpo...),Health

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rite Aid Corporation (Rite Aid) and nine of its subsidiaries in eight states have agreed to pay $5 million in civil penalties to settle allegations of violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Department of Justice announced today.

In addition to the $5 million penalty, Rite Aid and all of its subsidiaries agreed to a compliance plan with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ensure compliance with all requirements of the CSA and applicable DEA regulations and to prevent diversion of controlled substances. The compliance plan also requires Rite Aid to implement a pseudoephedrine and ephedrine tracking system in each of its 4,915 stores that is designed to prevent the abuse of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products, which are used to make methamphetamine.

According to information contained in the agreement, the DEA conducted an investigation of 53 separate Rite Aid locations starting in 2004. The investigation revealed a pattern of violations of the CSA, including:

• At pharmacies in Kentucky and New York, Rite Aid knowingly filled prescriptions for controlled substances that were not issued for a legitimate medical purpose pursuant to a valid physician-patient relationship;

• At five pharmacies in Maryland, four pharmacies in New York and 13 pharmacies in California, Rite Aid failed to notify the DEA in a timely manner of significant thefts and losses of controlled substances, thus permitting the diversion of controlled substances to continue and undermining DEA's ability to investigate such thefts and/or losses;

• At pharmacies in California, Pennsylvania and Maryland, Rite Aid either failed to maintain or failed to furnish to the DEA upon request records that are required to be kept under the CSA for a
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