Originally Posted by
747FC
You were departing LAX on an international trip, but went through CPB? Usually, when you enter the US, you go through CPB.
CBP has ramped up the proportion of departing transoceanic flights on which it is on a hunt for cash and other stuff at the departure gate areas/jet-bridges. So it's rather routine to go through CBP when leaving the US by air.
And these CBP exit hunts hit passengers of non-European ethnic-origins more than most others on the same flights. While it's mostly about hunting for undeclared cash/cash-equivalents requiring declaration prior to exit from the US, sometimes it's about whatever/whomever catches the fancy of the CBP employees at the moment. Looking at medicine-containing containers for concealed cash is sometimes done, but the CBP employee mentioned by the OP seems to be co-mingling prescription drug export with unlawful drug transport along with a hunt for questionable money.