Coming soon: Ontario advances towards mandating time-delayed safes for all pharmacies

Time-delayed safes for storing narcotics will soon be a mandatory fixture for all pharmacies in Ontario—one of a growing number pharmacies in the country to adopt this robbery prevention measure. During its Dec. 12 meeting, the board of the Ontario College of Pharmacists approved a recommendation to develop a standard that will require time-delayed safes for narcotics, along with prominent signage informing the public that the premise stores its controlled substances in such a safe. The standard, which will be developed with input from pharmacy and system stakeholders, is expected to be presented for approval at the next board meeting, scheduled for March 2023. It will come into effect immediately after it’s approved. Read: ACP mandates time-delayed safes in community pharmacies Time-delayed safes—which when unlocked will not open for a pre-set amount of time—have become mandatory for pharmacies in Alberta and British Columbia, with Saskatchewan poised to follow. They’ve been shown to reduce robberies by thieves specifically looking to steal controlled substances. In B.C., where time-delayed safes have been required since 2015 for all Schedule A drugs, these devices are credited with reducing robberies significantly. In 2016/2017, the province saw drug store robberies drop to just two, from 36 in 2013/2014. That drop reflected the experience of the U.S. drug chain Walgreens, which had reported a big decline in robberies after bringing in time-delayed safes. Read: 12-month suspension for pharmacist who used apartment as 'safe space' for drugs Before mandating time-delayed safes, however, B.C. College of Pharmacists tested the waters by working with police to spread the word that the safe was in already in place throughout the province. That led to an almost-immediate reduction in robberies, according to the college. While there were concerns initially among pharmacists in B.C. and Alberta that the time-delayed safes would aggravate robbers and cause them to become violent, that has not been the case in either province. The Alberta College of Pharmacists reported in January 2022—after it had decided to mandate time-delayed safes—that police had shared information showing that the introduction of time-delayed safes in Alberta convenience stores led to a significant reduction in robberies with no reported increase in violence. Read: Teenagers arrested in connection with pharmacy robberies and carjackings

Coming soon: Ontario advances towards mandating time-delayed safes for all pharmacies

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