Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) — Contact 13 is seeing an overwhelming response after our recent investigation exposing how some pharmacies are profiling patients.

A former pharmacy insider said customers are often denied pain medication based on their looks. They’re caught in the middle of a war on prescription drug abuse.

Since no one at the major pharmacy chains is stepping up to answer our questions, Contact 13 is taking the issue back to lawmakers.

“When I saw it first air, it hit home hard,” Aaron Gilliam feared he was alone until he saw our latest story. “Profiling people, I just don’t feel is fair at all.”

Aaron’s path of pain started in 2006 when he fell 45-feet from an overpass.

“My legs hit first. It took a little bit of the spring but then my tailbone just hit real hard so everything compressed.”

He’s had 14 operations to fix the damage.

“That is the thoracic area with the rods and screws and that’s the bridge vertebrae,” Aaron explained as he showed his x-rays of a spine rebuilt with stuff that looks like industrial building materials.

The pain continues to make Aaron sick, “On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s like going on 15, 20.”

So, like many who suffer from a serious injury, Aaron needs strong pain pills to make things manageable. But he’s running into the same roadblocks Contact 13 started investigating more than a year ago.

We’ve received email and phone calls from hundreds of patients complaining about pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for pain meds.

Some patients are told they don’t meet a new criteria, and there’s talk about limits imposed by the DEA and a secret checklist.

Most often customers are turned away, told by pharmacies that they’re out of the meds patients need.

“So you end up blowing, like one day I wasted 250 miles on my truck and 24 gallons of gas trying to drive around getting it. And still no result,” said Aaron.

We also met with Wanetta Naki, another viewer who contacted us after seeing our story about pain patients being profiled, “Oh my God. You’re kidding me. They’re actually profiling everybody. That’s not their place to do that.”

Like Aaron, Wanetta was also injured, “I was rear-ended by a tractor trailer rig which totally messed up my back.”

She’s getting the same run-around and hasn’t had her prescription for Percocet filled for months, “Now I’m having a hard time sleeping at night. There are times I can’t even climb up the stairs to go to my bedroom.”

Wanetta knows the dangers of abuse first hand. She lost a good friend who overdosed on prescription pills. But she can’t understand why legitimate patients are left in the dark.

“They should let us know out in the open, what’s going on. What is the true meaning and reason why we can’t get our pain medication?”

That’s the question Contact 13 has been asking for more than a year. We’ve taken the issue to lawmakers once again, asking them to at least open a public dialogue.

Sen. Harry Reid would not do an on-camera interview. His staff said they would provide a statement, but never did.

Sen. Heller and Rep. Mark Amodei didn’t respond at all.

Congresswoman Dina Titus is planning to meet with the DEA and executives from pharmacy chains. We’ve asked when and whether patients and doctors will be included, but we haven’t gotten an answer.

Rep. Joe Heck, who is a physician himself, said through staffers that his office hasn’t heard from care providers about this problem and they “hold no sway” over private pharmacy companies.

A spokesman for Crescent Hardy, the newest member of the Nevada delegation, listened carefully to the information we provided and said it would be seriously considered and analyzed by their team.

In the meantime, Aaron and Wanetta want decision-makers to hear their voices.

“This is actually on overreaction to the drug abuse problem,” said Wanetta.

“They should be put in our position where they feel the pain that we have,” added Aaron. “Get the run around that we have, wasting money and time trying to chase the medications down just so you can live a normal life.” 

Contact 13 is not going to stop here. We’ll continue to demand answers until someone steps up to address the problem.

If you’re being denied your medication, let us know about it.

We want to make sure lawmakers hear your voice. Contact them at the websites below:

• Sen. Harry Reid: http://www.reid.senate.gov/contact
• Sen. Dean Heller: http://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
• Rep. Dina Titus: http://titus.house.gov/contact
• Rep. Mark Amodei: http://amodei.house.gov/contact/
• Rep. Joe Heck: https://heck.house.gov/contact-joe
• Rep. Cresent Hardy: https://hardy.house.gov/contact/email

You can find statements from pharmacy chains in our previous reports:

Patients profiled at pharmacy counters

Prescription for Pain: Change in law causes more delays, pain

Cancer patients being denied medications by pharmacists

Pharmacy checklist questioning doctor prescriptions

Pharmacy delays causing more than headaches

Prescription for Pain: Patients struggling to fill medications

Locals in need of prescription medications being turned away