Have you ever purchased something at the grocery store, but when you got home, you realized you picked up the wrong size or brand or color? It happens to us all. But what happened with one woman’s grocery store mix up could have been harmful if she hadn’t been paying attention.
A Mustang, Oklahoma, woman recently opened a bottle of pills she purchased at her local Wal-Mart store and found the wrong medication inside. She reported the pill problem to the police, but there is still confusion about the details of the incident. Read on to hear the whole story and learn what you can do to stop the same thing from happening to you.
When Amber Johnson opened a bottle of over the counter antacids, she found something shocking inside. Instead of the small, green tablets she was used to seeing, she found crushed up versions of another brand altogether.
“[There was] nothing wrong the box or bottle, completely sealed, the glue’s sealed, the silver foil on the top was still sealed, just like any of the previous bottles I’ve purchased before,” she said.
She contacted the manufacturer right away in an attempt to get to the bottom of the incident. “Once they transferred me to the manufacturer, they asked me several questions, got the information on the box, and they seemed about as shocked as I did,” she said.
The pills inside Johnson’s medicine bottle had the brand name Tums written on them, even though the packaging read Equate. The two brands are not manufactured at the same plant.
“It doesn’t make sense that a pill that’s not made at that plant can be put in the bottle, unless it was brought in by some outside source, otherwise I have no idea … A joke? A prank?” she told KFOR.
“I know that sometimes medicines change manufacturers and they may change shapes or forms, I’m not sure some people would think before they put it in their mouth before taking it, especially if they’re not feeling well,” Johnson said.
A spokesperson for the Mustang Wal-Mart told Johnson that all bottles of the pills she bought would be removed from the shelves until the cause of the mistake is determined.
In the case of Amber Johnson, this medicine mix up was relatively harmless. However, it’s important to pay attention to what pills you get from the drugstore, whether it be over the counter or prescription medication. The reason is because of the unintended consequences of ingesting illegal drugs.
TV news comedian John Oliver recently presented a segment on our country’s addiction crisis. Boston Magazine reported on his coverage of this nationwide epidemic: “The HBO series took a closer look at what started the crisis and how it’s affecting people in this country today. According to Oliver’s research, nearly 2.6 million Americans are addicted to opioids while more than 30,000 people die from overdoses each year. Almost 75 percent of heroin addicts are also former prescription opioid users, which is due to the drugs being “chemical cousins.”
The subject should hit close to home for Massachusetts residents, as 1,379 people in the state died last year from opioid overdoses, an 8 percent increase from 2014. Local lawmakers recently introduced a new bill to help fight the epidemic in the Bay State.”
“This is happening everywhere,” Oliver said. “The odds are, right now, you probably know someone who is struggling or who has died from an opioid addiction.” While opioids are currently at the center of a health crisis, these types of painkillers weren’t always so prevalent, as doctors used to fear prescribing them over concerns of addiction. The Last Week Tonight host stated that many physicians had “Opiophobia,” which shouldn’t be confused with Oprah-phobia, “the irrational fear of screaming talk show hosts giving you a brand new Pontiac sedan.”
All jokes aside, drug addiction has taken its grip on our country. What do you think about this story? Do you know someone who has an addiction problem? Share your thoughts, stories, and opinions with us in the comments section below.
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