INDICTED PHARMACIST ALREADY LOST LICENSE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993                   TAG: 9302060125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: JAY TAYLOR CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
INDICTED PHARMACIST ALREADY LOST LICENSE
James C. Bay III, a Clifton Forge pharmacist charged this week with illegally obtaining the drug Demerol, was stripped last summer of his license to practice pharmacology in Virginia after admitting he had taken Demerol for his own use.
Bay, who owns Farrar's Drug Store, was indicted by a Clifton Forge grand jury on Monday on three counts of obtaining a controlled Schedule II drug. He is scheduled to appear in Clifton Forge Circuit Court on Feb. 18 for arraignment.
Bay's license had been taken indefinitely by the state Board of Pharmacy on Sept. 4. Bay will not be eligible to reapply until a year from that date.
Last year, Bay admitted to an agent of the Department of Health Professions that he had "diverted to his own use various amounts of the prescription drug Demerol," according to Wayne Farrar, a spokesman for the department.
"Records showed there should have been more amounts of medication than were actually there," Farrar said.
Bay acknowledged the audit discrepancies, Farrar said, and admitted to taking the drugs "for personal and unauthorized use."
Bay has sought rehabilitation treatment from the Virginia Pharmacists Aiding Pharmacists Program, a peer support group created for those suffering from alcohol- and drug-abuse problems, Farrar said.
That was not the first time Bay had been found out of compliance with state pharmacology regulations. A 1990 audit by the department also found discrepancies, Farrar said. In that case, the Board of Pharmacy ordered Bay `to take corrective action," Farrar said.
The Clifton Forge commonwealth's attorney, Jeff Crackel, said he had not decided if he would seek the most severe penalty against Bay - five years in prison for each count. "It depends," he said. "I'll see what his compliance has been" with the pharmacists' recovery program, Crackel said.
The grand jury's indictments stem from the civil actions taken by the Board of Pharmacy.
Bay declined to comment, and referred questions to his lawyer, David Davis of Clifton Forge. Davis did not return several phone calls.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB