PORTLAND (AP) – The newest training regimen for Maine pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will focus on how to respond to robberies.

There are no comprehensive statistics on the number of drugstore holdups nationally or in Maine, but pharmacists and police point to a growing number of such robberies in recent years, most of them carried out by drug addicts desperate for prescription painkillers such as OxyContin.

Concern about the increase prompted the Maine Pharmacy Association to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office about instructing pharmacy employees about the proper response.

About 150 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are scheduled to undergo such training at the association’s spring convention in South Portland.

Law enforcement officials say this type of education can help employees avoid making potentially dangerous decisions.

“Historically I think police have done a great job educating banks and retail outlets,” said Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion. “I don’t think it’s been in the experience base of pharmacists that they could be the target of an armed robbery.”

The association pressed ahead with the training initiative after a drugstore robbery in Waldoboro ended in the suspect’s death in an exchange of gunfire in a convenience store parking lot in Brunswick.

Joe Bruno, chief executive officer of Community Pharmacies, said security was never a big concern when he entered the business 28 years ago.

“It just never entered your mind,” Bruno said. “And now it seems like every week that you hear about something.”

Chris Gauthier, president of the Maine Pharmacy Association, agreed.

“What’s unfortunate is that as a whole the industry hasn’t done a whole lot,” Gauthier said. “I think we’re all reacting to it.”

Pharmacies are advised by police to listen to the robber’s commands and not attempt any heroics.

That was similar to the warning given last January to Unity Pharmacy owner Shane Savage by a robber who wore a bandana over his face and hinted that he was hiding a gun under a pink pillowcase.

“Don’t be a hero,” the robber told Savage, who gave him decoy bottles, which were labeled Oxycodone but were actually filled with M&Ms candies.

After the robber fled, Savage jumped into his truck and gave chase. The suspect was arrested when his car ran over a spike mat in Appleton.

No one was injured, and the robber was sentenced to 12 years. But despite the happy ending, Savage’s aggressive response is the kind of reaction that makes police officers cringe. And Savage acknowledged that if the armed man opened the pill bottles and found M&Ms, someone might have been hurt.

“Your life as an employee is more important than a bottle of pills,” said Cumberland County Deputy Joe Schnupp. “You want that person out of there as quickly as possible, as safely as possible, and you want to be a good witness.”