By Allan Lengel
For AOL News
CVS Pharmacy, the largest retail drug store chain in the nation, agreed to pay $77.6 million in fines for unlawfully selling pseudoephedrine to criminals who made methamphetamine, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles announced today.
It’s the biggest civil penalty in the history of the Controlled Substances Act.
CVS’ troubles began in mid-2007, when Mexico banned the sale of pseudoephedrine.
Los Angeles County soon saw a spike in sales of cold and cough remedies that contained the ingredient used to make the often addictive methamphetamine street drug.
Criminals were turning to CVS to buy the products because the chain, unlike others, allowed customers to make repeated purchases that exceeded the federal daily and monthly limits. The criminals inundated stores in the Los Angeles area and Nevada, buying cough and cold remedies that contained the key ingredient, sometimes wiping out store shelves, authorities said.
They also noted that there were sales violations at CVS stores in more than 20 states.
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