Roy Richardson said he was returning from the drugstore at around 11 p.m. on Monday when he was held up. (CBC)A New Waterford, N.S., man says he's shaken up after being robbed at knifepoint for prescription pills.

Roy Richardson told CBC News he was returning from the drugstore at around 11 p.m. on Monday when he was held up as he entered his apartment on King Street in New Waterford.

"The blade was between six and eight inches long, shaped like a steak knife, a little wider," he said.

"He just planted there and I said, 'Oh my God.' I thought it was over then."

Richardson, who takes morphine for back and knee issues, said the man followed him up the stairs. He pulled a knife and demanded the 58-year-old man's prescription pills.

Richardson said he didn't hesitate to give them up.

"Once he pulled the knife, he looked crazy. His eyes wide and then narrow. 'I will f--king kill you if you don't give me them all right now,'" he recounted.

"'Here, take them,' I said. They're not worth dying over."

The man ran off with 14 pills. Richardson was not hurt.

The armed robbery happened at this apartment building in New Waterford. (Wendy Martin/CBC)Cape Breton Regional Police said they arrested a 30-year-old man from the Scotchtown area, who is facing a number of charges including robbery and uttering threats.

Joseph Macdonald, who lives in the same apartment building as Richardson, said prescription drug abuse is a large problem in New Waterford.

"When I was younger it was marijuana and a lot of other drugs, street drugs. Now it's drugstore medication," he said.

Richardson said he and his wife are now afraid to leave their apartment and are planning to move out of the area.

"I've got a machete there and a big club and I lock the doors and put a chair under the doorknob when I go to bed now," he said Tuesday.

"It's not good."