More controversy surrounds pharmacy, scene of shooting

OKLAHOMA CITY -- There are some new developments in what has become one of the most notorious pharmacies in Oklahoma City. Reliable Pharmacy is located near Southwest 59th and Penn. Reliable was the scene of the shooting involving pharmacist Jerome Ersland several years ago.

That shooting eventually led to a conviction, first-degree murder, for Ersland.

Reliable was in the news again last week for an issue involving the potentially illegal sale of several well-known narcotics.

The company that supplies those narcotics, Cardinal Health, had tried to cut them off because they suspected Reliable Pharmacy wasn't doing enough to ensure those pills weren't entering the street drug trade.

The legal battle that is unfolding now involves two more heavy-hitters: Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

The issue involves the distribution and sale of three controlled dangerous substances: Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and Xanex, sold under the generic name Alprazolam.

D.A. David Prater tells us, when it comes to those three drugs, Reliable Pharmacy sells more than four area pharmacies combined.

Walgreens and Walmart are across the street, Target is up the road about a mile and Ridgecrest Pharmacy is a small pharmacy in the area as well.

Prater said, "Reliable Pharmacy, a pharmacy the size of a matchbox in Oklahoma City, a blip on the radar, is selling more than all of those combined. I mean, no wonder Cardinal Health said, wait a minute, something's going on here."

Cardinal Health, the distributor of those drugs, stopped selling to Reliable last month.

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More controversy surrounds pharmacy, scene of shooting