Pharmacist Stabbing Spurs Calls for Protection

The latest stabbing of a pharmacist has renewed calls for tougher sentencing and increased policing to protect pharmacists.

This stabbing incident took place at a pharmacy in Drogheda, Ireland on the morning of September 29, 2015.

A customer entered the pharmacy around 8:30 am and argued with the pharmacist, The Independent reported. The customer then stabbed the 30-year-old pharmacist in the abdomen.

The pharmacist had been alone in the pharmacy.

He was transported to the hospital to treat serious injuries, according to The Independent.

This past winter, the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) released the results of a crime survey, which found that 75% of the 120 pharmacists surveyed had been a victim of a crime (including shoplifting, robbery, or a raid) in the last year.

In addition, 82% of the pharmacists who were victims had experienced 2 or more criminal incidents. More than a third of these events involved a weapon, the most common of which were knives (75%), syringes (25%), and guns (13%).

The survey also found 37% of pharmacists who did not report the crime said they believed the suspect would not be charged, and 16% said they were afraid of retaliations against the pharmacy.

IPU Vice President Daragh Connolly called the results of the survey deeply disturbing.

“Criminals see pharmacies as an easy target,” he said in a press release. “The level of sentencing when these criminals are caught is a joke relative to the impact the crime has on local businesses and the staff who are victims of these crimes.”