Camp Hill, Pa.-based drugstore chain Rite Aid will pay $4 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation into the improper sale of an ingredient often used to make methamphetamine, reports Reuters.
The DOJ claimed Rite Aid's training and procedures led employees in West Virginia between January 2009 and October 2012 to believe they could only refuse to sell pseudoephedrine to customers if they were exceeding purchase limits, not if they believed the customer wanted to purchase pseudoephedrine to make meth.
Although pseudoephedrine is a legal drug used in several cold medications, federal law restricts its sale to prevent illegal uses.
The $4 million settlement represents 80 percent of the drugstore chain's gross sales on pseudoephedrine during the time period in the claim. As part of the deal, Rite Aid accepted full responsibility for improper pseudoephedrine sales in West Virginia and implemented steps to prevent further abuse of sales, including proper training to flag and deny suspicious sales.