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CHARLOTTE -- Pharmacists and law enforcement officials have a tool at their disposal to help crack down on doctor shopping.

This method of fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs involves patients using more than one doctor without the physicians’ knowledge to get additional prescription medication for use or sale.

Many pharmacists said the North Carolina Controlled
Substances Reporting System helps identify that illegal activity by keeping track of purchased prescriptions by listing times, dates and the prescribing doctors.

"Many pharmacists are just so busy trying to meet the demands of patients that the last thing that would concern one is going an extra step to determine on the N.C. database the other activities that may be involved with a patient," said Jesse Pikes of Pikes Pharmacy.

Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent John Emerson said the doctors involved are usually oblivious to the abuse and eventual crime.

This makes Pikes’s job, and the system, even more valuable. But the system isn't automatic.

A pharmacist has to manually log the information onto the data base and it's not required.

This week, two former Cabarrus County deputies, Kevin Wingler and Jason Frye were charged with obtaining prescription drugs fraudulently.

The SBI said Wingler doctor shopped for Hydrocodone and Xanax and Frye obtained Hydrocodone and Methadone fraudulently.