Students Face Difficulty with Local Pharmacy

Ohio Wesleyan’s local CVS pharmacy promises that medication accessibility will improve despite students' continued dissatisfaction with the pharmacy.

The difficulties arise amidst “an increase in the prevalence [of ADHD] from 6.1% to 10.2% in the 20-year period from 1997 to 2016,” as Missouri Medicine: The Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, describes. 

However, student opinion places greater responsibility on the CVS Pharmacy on Sandusky Street, claiming that the issue is more local. 

“The Delaware CVS is so bad that my boyfriend just stopped taking his meds,” said Ohio Wesleyan senior Abby Bennet. 

In response, many students have abandoned the pharmacy entirely. 

“I get my meds from the Westerville pharmacy so I can avoid the issues completely,” said Julia Ryan, a junior diagnosed with ADHD. 

“I just have my doctor send it to the nearest Walmart,” said Ohio Wesleyan senior Andrew Constable. Students seem to share this approach to medication management, with many consistently choosing to get medication from other locations. 

One Ohio Wesleyan junior has taken a more drastic approach. They have their parents pick up and ship her medication from Massachusetts. 

The Sandusky Street pharmacy has clearly proved unreliable to the students of Ohio Wesleyan. 

However, this trend may change. A pharmacist who works at the Sandusky Street location commented, “It shouldn’t be on backorder anymore.” 

She explained that “When a brand comes out with a generic, everyone has to switch to it, so it goes on backorder. So, then everyone has to switch to another brand, and then that’s on backorder, and then suddenly neither of them are on backorder. It’s a whole mess.”

The pharmacist promised medication access should be better this year, adding that one of the leading ADHD medications used by Ohio Wesleyan students “hasn’t been on backorder for at least a month.” 

While the pharmacy is hopeful that ease of medication accessibility will improve at the CVS on Sandusky Street, students remain skeptical. The history of shortcomings suggests that many will continue to access medication from other pharmacies, relying on locations that have proved more reliable.