Police in Charlotte said they're seeing an increase in crimes committed against pharmacies, fueled by addiction to painkillers.

Not a day goes by that Charlotte pharmacist Nancy Mikhail said she does not turn down bogus prescriptions for painkillers.

"It's become a big thing lately that people come in with fake prescriptions, turn around they're either abusing them or selling them," Mikhail said.

Mikhail also said many of the prescriptions come from out of state, the trademark of traveling drug rings that collect highly-addictive painkillers like Hydrocodone and Oxycodone to sell on the black market.

"The street value on these medications is outrageous, compared to what they can pay for them out of the pharmacy," Mikhail said.

Pharmacies across the Carolinas and the nation are increasingly becoming criminal targets: At a CVS in Boone last week, a man pulled a gun on a clerk, demanding prescription drugs.  He got away.

In Rock Hill, surveillance video from a few weeks ago showed a man using a hatchet to try to break into the Carolina Pharmacy. He also was not arrested.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said the crimes are fueled by desperate addicts who may have started off with legitimate prescriptions for pain.

Mikhail said she and other pharmacists routinely contact police for phony prescriptions, and store the information in a state database to keep it from happening again.

The Drug Enforcement Administration tracks painkiller shipments to pharmacies and hospitals, but it does not keep track of how much each patient receives.