Wal-Mart's "Frightening" Narcotics Deal

[babylonsister]

:wtf:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-norman/wal-marts-frightening-nar_b_191405.html

Wal-Mart's "Frightening" Narcotics Deal

By Al Norman


One of the world's largest drug store chains is employing a very unusual---and provocative---method for sourcing its drugs.

This week mighty Wal-Mart found itself at the center of a street-level drug deal that raised larger questions about where and how the retailer gets its cheap drugs.

In June of 2008, I wrote in this space about Wal-Mart's global sourcing empire for prescription drugs, quoting one pharmaceutical industry analyst as saying, Wal-Mart drugs "come from all over the world. They're U.S. manufacturers, Israeli and Indian manufacturers. They have a choice of where to buy these drugs."

But this week, Wal-Mart's choice of drug vendors made some small town news. The corporation was tight-lipped about a narcotics source that raised lingering questions about where the giant retailer is really getting its cheap drugs, and what product safety and procurement protections are in place at the retailer's pharmacies. In fact, the whole incident was described by the ABC news affiliate that broke the story as "strange."

Strange, but also unsettling. ABC 4 News in Cedar City, Utah---a town of roughly 28,000 people---reported that a routine traffic stop of three men led to a bizarre tale of prescription narcotics, illegal couriers, a Las Vegas drug supplier, and the world's largest retailer.

Diego Jimenez, Maricio Jimenez, and Kyle Gutierrez are being held in a jail in Iron County while local authorities sift through their odd story. Police pulled over their car as it was traveling north on Route 15 just south of 100 miles per hour. The men claim they were hired to deliver prescription drugs to at least three Wal-Mart stores, including the superstore on South Providence Drive in Cedar City, Utah, which has an in-store pharmacy. The three men reportedly had already been to the Wal-Mart supercenter in St. George, Utah, which is south of Cedar City on Route 15, and the Wal-Mart superstore on Route 15 further south in Mesquite, Nevada, on the border with Arizona.

While searching the car, police found marijuana paraphernalia, two boxes of prescription narcotics, and a retail invoice for $30,000. Two of the three men in the car admitted to being illegal aliens. The men claimed they had been retained by a company called Nevada Courier, given $150 and a tank of gas to "drive these medications down here and drop them off."

The three suspects arrested are all reportedly from Las Vegas. The police verified their story by checking with the retailer. "I called Wal-Mart," one police spokesman told ABC news, "and they said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late."

more...

[alfredo]

1. I guess you have to be a dope to shop there.

[babylonsister]

2. I didn't say that, but for such a large company, their contracting

methods sure sound cheap and fishy.

[alfredo]

3. Maybe the mob is involved in their supply chain.

[babylonsister]

4. I've no doubt Wal-Mart would cut costs anywhere it could.

They're a big biz, that's what they do.

[alfredo]

5. Business is amoral.

[myrna minx]

6. Bizarre. n/t

[tosh]

7. Bwahahaha.....

"...Where are these drugs really coming from? Who are these couriers? Why are narcotics being driven to stores in a manner reminiscence of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas?"

:rofl:

I was hoping to read the name of the distributor from the invoice.