No one knows how many prescription drugs are illegally obtained in South Carolina, through theft, forgery, "doctory shopping" or "pharmacy shopping". But pharmacist John Owen knows personally what the consequences can be.

"I had a close friend who was actually shot and killed in a pharmacy from somebody holding him up and trying to get drugs," he says. "That hits home when you know somebody personally like that. So you're more apprehensive."

The pharmacy he used to work in was broken into three times and robbed once. He also helped break up a ring of four people who were forging prescriptions.

Last October, pharmacists in Columbia came up with a way to let their colleagues around the state know about people who were going from pharmacy to pharmacy, trying to get drugs illegally. It's a computer database they can all access, called Rx Alert.

In just 175 days, there have been 275 incidents reported to Rx Alert that would have gone unnoticed otherwise.

Now, the state is joining a national database that's similar, called Rx Patrol. It will allow pharmacies and police to know about criminals who are doing this in several states.

Aaron Graham is a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who now heads security for Purdue Pharma, which sponsors Rx Patrol.

He says it helps police, and catches more criminals.  "So while it may have happened in South Carolina, the crook may live in a neighboring state. Now police officers in neighboring states can look at our database and say, 'Well that's interesting. I think that guy lives in my community. I know who that guy is,'" Graham says.

A recent example shows why it's important for the states to work together and know what's going on. In a one-month period, a single suspect was reported to the statewide Rx Alert seven different times. He was suspected of going to different pharmacies with the same prescription, trying to get it filled at all of them. He also had a confirmed case of a forged prescription for a controlled substance.

His activities were traced in South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

While the scope of the problem is sobering, so is its impact. Wilbur Harling, director of the drug control bureau for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, says, "These drugs, unfortunately, wind up in the hands of, sometimes, children."