Carson Drugs

LAist informs us:

Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter Kelly Price said she went to the CVS at 150 Carson Street in Carson early Tuesday morning at about 1 a.m. to fill a prescription for painkillers she planned to take for a dental procedure, CBS reports. Price posted bout the incident on Facebook, saying this wasn't her usual pharmacy, but that her pharmacy had been out of stock.

"Imagine my surprise and aggravation when I was greeted with partitions at the drop off window and after flagging down the pharmacist on duty being told that he would not fill my prescription because they don't fill 'certain' prescriptions after midnight because of the neighborhood this CVS store is located in."

Carson said she eventually found the manager of the store, who convinced the pharmacist to fill the prescription after about a half hour of arguing. The next day, Price said she called CVS corporate to file a complaint.

"I was offended for anybody that lives in a neighborhood that may not be considered the upper echelon where expensive homes are, or where six- and seven-figure earners live," she told CBS2.

Price said CVS eventually apologized to her Wednesday evening. In a second Facebook post, she wrote about speaking with Henry Casillas, CVS' Area Vice President. She said Casillas apologized about the incident at the pharmacy and told her it was not CVS policy, and that the partitions should not have been at the windows. She said he also informed her that there would be an internal investigation. CVS issued a statement to CBS2 that also said it was not company policy to refuse certain prescriptions after midnight.

Price said in her second post that she was hopeful for a positive change from CVS.

"It is my hope that no person in ANY community should ever have to deal with unfair scrutiny or denial of service because of where they live, what they look like or how rich or poor the pharmacist thinks they are. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a change in the way this company does business in our communities."