A Fredericton pharmacist is speaking out about a break, enter and theft at his drug store this past weekend.
Paul Bowman says a person broke in by going through the ceiling of the drugstore. He says narcotics, including drugs with a high street value, were taken in the heist.
“A lot of emotion going through your mind when you feel somebody has come into your personal space uninvited,” says Bowman.
But Bowman's feelings quickly turned to what has become a prevalent issue in the community.
“It speaks to a bigger societal problem with opioids in North America,” he says.
This theft comes a week after a man climbed into the ceiling of another drugstore nearby and held a three-hour police standoff. A man will appear in court next month in connection with that incident.
Fredericton Police Force Staff Sgt. Matt Myers says both investigations are ongoing.
“What I would say that addiction is a serious problem within the area, Fredericton and also within the province and country as a whole, and we certainly see this as a motivation for this crime,” Myers says.
Bowman is hopeful that speaking out will encourage other people to talk openly about addiction.
“It spans socioeconomic status. It can afflict anyone, so if we can have people at least talking about this a bit more to try and reduce the stigma around it, we can maybe start creating different policies and processes to try and curb the problem,” he says.
Police say they do have security footage of the latest robbery as it happened, but are not making it public for now.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.
