Shopping at the grocery store is becoming a challenge for many folks who are looking for simple items to pick up. Things like baby formula, NyQuil, or just a small bottle of vanilla extract. So, what's at the bottom of these products being removed from the shelves and put behind the customer service desk? A high theft rate is responsible.
It seems teens are using these items to get high. It used to be when you went to the grocery store, everything you wanted was right there for you to pick up off the shelf and put into your shopping cart. That's no longer true. Kids are using things like vanilla extract to get high. Erma Banks is a grandmother of four, and now she says she is worried about sending her grandson to the store to do some shopping for her. "I'm concerned, because that means there are things hidden in things that I would send him to the store to pick up, not knowing that he would want to use it for that."
And it's not just vanilla extract that's being removed from the shelves. Grocery stores all over Hampton Roads are removing a number of items because they are being swiped in huge numbers. Either from kids using them to get high or by drug dealers. For instance, baby formula is being removed because drug dealers are using it to make Crack and Crystal Meth. NyQuil is disappearing from the shelves because kids are stealing it and drinking the entire bottle to "catch a buzz."
We spoke to Jeffrey Burns, a drug counselor in Virginia Beach. He spends a lot of time online looking for substances that kids are chatting about, and sometimes abusing. Those items include not only vanilla extract and NyQuil but hair spray. The pump hair spray is about 50% alcohol. And kids are drinking it, not sniffing it. Stores are also removing other over the counter medications such as Coracidin and Sudafed. Because they're not controlled, kids can buy them. And you can buy them 24 hours a day if you can get to the store.
The attraction is, they are not very expensive. So, just how many more items can stores keep controlled behind the shelf? Store owners say not many more. In fact, some stores are coming up with spring locked shelves to cut down on theft rates among the smaller ticket items.
Other items being removed from the shelves include Crest Whitening Strips, Razor Blades, and even facial creams such as Noxzema and Oil of Olay.
