People who take prescribed painkillers have to be careful not to draw attention to the drugs they are taking, a Sackville pharmacy owner said Wednesday.

George Murray, who is a past president of the Canadian Pharmacists Association, was reacting to an incident Monday in which a customer at Lawton's Drug Store on Elmwood Drive in Moncton was assaulted and had his narcotics stolen at gunpoint outside the pharmacy.

Murray said a person should take the same precautions with drugs as are followed when visiting a bank or using an automatic teller.

"If you're carrying money from the bank, or if you're keeping money at home, it's something that you wouldn't go around telling people or if you're coming out of the bank, you wouldn't be flashing your money around or telling you have lots of money at home," he said.

Murray added it's still uncommon to be robbed for painkillers.

Police are looking for the suspect in the armed robbery.