Gee Scott: ‘Pharmacy deserts’ are a direct consequence of allowing shoplifting

Pharmacy deserts are cropping up across Washington. According to the Washington State Pharmacy Association, between January 2023 and March 2024, 81 pharmacies closed statewide.

Gee Scott, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, told “Seattle’s Morning News” Monday that a lack of pharmacies means fewer people will take their medications.

“Let’s be real, without this easy access to a pharmacy, there’s some people that are more likely to skip out on prescriptions,” Gee said. “There’s more people that don’t get the information; the education that they need is centered around this medication.”

Gee added that he relates to the situation because his grandmother had to make a far trek to get her groceries.

“I remember in Chicago, my grandmother used to have to take public transportation far away to get to the closest, not just pharmacy, but just grocery store in general, because you have food deserts,” he shared. “And so I remember what that was like when I think about my grandmother years ago, I think about somebody else’s grandmother here today, grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, someone, maybe their children, their family, lives out of state. They’re on a fixed income. Live here. All of a sudden, that local Rite Aid or Bartell Drugs is now closed down. They can’t easily go get their prescription.”

Gee Scott: More crime will lead to more pharmacy deserts

Gee said that when stealing and crime continue to persist, pharmacies close and the community suffers.

“You know how frustrating that can be when you see things getting locked up,” he said. “This is the unattended consequences of, hey, for a while, we’re just like, ‘Oh, it’s OK. I know they stole some things and all that kind of stuff. Oh, they cleared out all the deodorant.’ When you continue to allow that, that’s why I never like for that to continue to happen, because the consequence could be finally Bartells or whatever store is like, ‘You know what? We’re not even going to be open in that area.'”

Listen to the full conversation below.

Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast here.