People continue to get Oxycontin fixes by hopping from doctor to doctor to pick up supplies of the prescription painkiller.

But as law enforcement and medical authorities crack down on doctor-shopping, people boldly are robbing local pharmacies of their supplies of Oxycontin, nicknamed the “poor man’s heroin” because it’s cheaper and its effects are similar.

“You can get a 90-day supply from a doctor,” East Ridge police spokesman Erik Hopkins said. “You can steal 300 to 400 (times that much) from a pharmacy.”

Police say recent robberies don’t show an increase in the number of people using Oxycontin, only that addicts are becoming desperate.

“Usually those are addicts that, for whatever reasons, have probably exhausted their other ways to obtain it,” said Lt. Kirk Eidson, who oversees the Chattanooga Police Department narcotics division.

In recent weeks, there have been two Oxycontin robberies in Chattanooga, and others have taken place in the past few months.

On Wednesday, East Ridge police arrested two men in connection with a robbery of the Walgreens at the intersection of Ringgold and Germantown roads. Two men entered the pharmacy and gave a note to the pharmacist, demanding all the store’s Oxycontin and stating they were armed.

The men were arrested after police viewed video of the incident and fielded multiple calls from residents offering leads, Officer Hopkins said.

In Chattanooga last week, a man jumped the counter at the Highway 153 Rite Aid and demanded Oxycontin. Investigators continue working that case, Chattanooga police spokeswoman Sgt. Jerri Weary said.

Police in Ringgold, Ga., continue to look for a man who in July bolted from a shopping aisle at Walgreens, leapt over the counter and stole thousands of Oxycontin pills, according to police. Out of camera range, the robber ordered the staff to lay on the floor and made the pharmacist unlock a cabinet containing the painkiller, police said.

NATIONWIDE PROBLEM

Officer Hopkins said Oxycontin addiction is a problem in the region, and that store owners have become more vigilant about protecting themselves by using video surveillance, immediately alerting police to thefts and sharing information.

Oxycontin robberies in Tennessee are rare, said Walgreens spokesman Robert Elfinger. Washington state is the pharmacy robbery capital of the nation, he said, and company officials have worked diligently to curb the crime there and elsewhere.

The Deerfield, Ill.-based company trains employees on how to react in certain situations and uses digital video surveillance cameras to provide clearer images of suspects, Mr. Elfinger said. The cameras also capture a profile snapshot of everyone who enters the store, he said, but the snapshots are not retrieved unless an incident occurs.

“We are sharing those with law enforcement and even occasionally the media in order to help apprehend some of these suspects,” he said.

Oxycontin was introduced in 1996, and its abuse initially appeared in the eastern United States, though it now has spread across the country, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

In 2002, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation noted that “poor man’s heroin” was increasing in popularity in the state as abusers committed theft, armed robbery and fraud to sustain their habits. Oxycontin abuse remains a problem, but pharmacies and law enforcement officials are educating the public about the dangers of the drug and prosecuting those who abuse it, said DEA Agent Ben Scott, who works out of the TBI’s Chattanooga office.

Pharmacies don’t keep logs of who purchases the painkiller because a prescription is required to obtain it and officials can track abuse via prescriptions, he said.

“It just depends whether or not they’re being used as prescribed,” Agent Scott said. “If they’re used for appropriate purposes, then there’s not a problem. If they’re abused, you have the same problems as illicit drugs.”