Why are benzo's still available on medical card?

kdowling

I work in a pharmacy where there is 98% medical cards.
Everyday we get guys in who get a months supply of diazepam and sleeping tablets and as soon as they get them they sell them on the street (in front of the pharmacy!!)
They get around €1 a tablet. Diazepam can be prescribed three times a day and sleeping tablets two at night so some of these guys get 90 + 60 = €150 a month!

That's a nice little top up on top of their dole money.

I wouldn't mine but you can buy a months supply of diazepam on prescription for a little over €5 so it's not like people with a medical card will not be able to afford them if needed if its taken off medical card.

CardBordWindow

kdowling wrote: »

I work in a pharmacy where there is 98% medical cards.
Everyday we get guys in who get a months supply of diazepam and sleeping tablets and as soon as they get them they sell them on the street (in front of the pharmacy!!)
They get around €1 a tablet. Diazepam can be prescribed three times a day and sleeping tablets two at night so some of these guys get 90 + 60 = €150 a month!

That's a nice little top up on top of their dole money.

I wouldn't mine but you can buy a months supply of diazepam on prescription for a little over €5 so it's not like people with a medical card will not be able to afford them if needed if its taken off medical card.

......and where is this pharmacy?

humbert

Please say you reported this and then posted about it online?

garv123

kdowling wrote: »

I work in a pharmacy where there is 98% medical cards.
Everyday we get guys in who get a months supply of diazepam and sleeping tablets and as soon as they get them they sell them on the street (in front of the pharmacy!!)
They get around €1 a tablet. Diazepam can be prescribed three times a day and sleeping tablets two at night so some of these guys get 90 + 60 = €150 a month!

That's a nice little top up on top of their dole money.

I wouldn't mine but you can buy a months supply of diazepam on prescription for a little over €5 so it's not like people with a medical card will not be able to afford them if needed if its taken off medical card.

you forgot to deduct the 1.50 charge for every item nowadays.. cuts a huge amount off the profit

kdowling

humbert wrote: »

Please say you reported this and then posted about it online?

Waste of time. The guards know about this. It happensall day, every day.
The only way to stop it is to stop giving it to them for free. (Edit not free €1.50!)

kdowling

garv123 wrote: »

you forgot to deduct the 1.50 charge for every item nowadays.. cuts a huge amount off the profit

Haha, sorry, profit for above example is €147 not €150 although not all pharmacies charge the €1.50 even though they should

up for anything

This thread has nearly everything.

Social welfare
Social welfare fraud
Scumbags
Drug addicts
Useless Gardaí

OP, is there any chance you could work in a few Nazis?

wonderfulname

kdowling wrote: »

Waste of time. The guards know about this. It happensall day, every day.
The only way to stop it is to stop giving it to them for free. (Edit not free €1.50!)

What about the people who need it? It's not a problem with the medical card, it's whatever dumb doctor prescribed the drugs, target your rage there.

kdowling

up for anything wrote: »

This thread has nearly everything.

Social welfare
Social welfare fraud
Scumbags
Drug addicts
Useless Gardaí

OP, is there any chance you could work in a few Nazis?

Had a German guy in a few weeks ago looking for benzo's on his EU card.
Didn't get his opinion on Jewish folk unfortunately!

Johnny Utah

kdowling wrote: »

Had a German guy in a few weeks ago looking for benzo's on his EU card.
Didn't get his opinion on Jewish folk unfortunately!

I did Nazi that one coming!

hyperborean

Well it could be Germans (company) distributing and Isrealis (generics)manufacturing these drugs,

Full house

Sauve

OP if you feel that the drugs you're dispensing are being abused, it's your pharmacists' responsibility to contact the prescriber and make them aware of the situation, as well as your local HSE.

Reports such as this are generally taken very seriously.

kdowling

wonderfulname wrote: »

What about the people who need it? It's not a problem with the medical card, it's whatever dumb doctor prescribed the drugs, target your rage there.

First of all, I'm hardly in a rage!!
I already mentioned in the op that they are not expensive. If people with a medical card need them they can buy them.

Sauve

kdowling wrote: »

First of all, I'm hardly in a rage!!
I already mentioned in the op that they are not expensive. If people with a medical card need them they can buy them.

You don't actually work in a pharmacy at all, do you?

kdowling

Sauve wrote: »

Reports such as this are generally taken very seriously.

I would have to report nearly every doctor in the country then.

Sauve

kdowling wrote: »

I would have to report nearly every doctor in the country then.

Ah now you're just being sensationalist.

wonderfulname

kdowling wrote: »

I would have to report nearly every doctor in the country then.

Ha, I'm sure you would, you work in nearly every pharmacy in the country too then?

kdowling

wonderfulname wrote: »

Ha, I'm sure you would, you work in nearly every pharmacy in the country too then?

No, but I have locumed in hundreds of them.

kdowling

Sauve wrote: »

Ah now you're just being sensationalist.

Not really. It's certainly a problem with nearly every doctor in socially deprived areas.
It's also becoming the housewives choice too in better areas.

Lenin Skynard

kdowling wrote: »

Not really. It's certainly a problem with nearly every doctor in socially deprived areas.
It's also becoming the housewives choice too in better areas.

Housewives in nice areas are selling benzos for €1 each that they got on the medical card

Sauve

kdowling wrote: »

No, but I have locumed in hundreds of them.

If this is the case, I'm surprised OP. For a pharmacist/staff member to be referring to patients the way you have been on here is nothing short of unprofessional.
If you have a problem with the way things are being done then go to the GPs, HSE, even the IPU.
The way you're going about it is just belittling your profession tbh.

IM0

kdowling wrote: »

Waste of time. The guards know about this. It happensall day, every day.
The only way to stop it is to stop giving it to them for free. (Edit not free €1.50!)

eh how about reporting it to someone who can actually do something about it. like the gp on the prescription they give you

*phone call from pharmacist*

"oh i see, they are selling them ok well I must stop prescribing them that then *trows new renewal prescription in bin*

problem solved

Boombastic

Surely the pharmacist has a responsibility here to report them and the doctors. If an off licence can be done for supplying directly/ indirectly alcohol, I can't understand how this has not actioned and a blind eye being turned.

anncoates

So basically stop medical card prescriptions for everybody because some people sell drugs?

Kinda like banning people from buying food in supermarkets because some people shoplift.

kdowling

IM0 wrote: »

eh how about reporting it to someone who can actually do something about it. like the gp on the prescription they give you

*phone call from pharmacist*

"oh i see, they are selling them ok well I must stop prescribing them that then *trows new renewal prescription in bin*

problem solved

Nice little example above but its not that simple I'm afraid!
The doctor is more likely to say thanks for bringing that to my attention and then prescribe the exact same thing again.
Did that initially as a newly qualified graduate, naively though reporting the problem to higher authorities would help too. It didn't and the practice continues every day.

Boombastic

kdowling wrote: »

Nice little example above but its not that simple I'm afraid!
The doctor is more likely to say thanks for bringing that to my attention and then prescribe the exact same thing again.
Did that initially as a newly qualified graduate, naively though reporting the problem to higher authorities would help too. It didn't and the practice continues every day.

You need to escalate the reporting higher than the doctors if they don't care

marketty

Terrible Joe, how do these people sleep at night?

anncoates

marketty wrote: »

Terrible Joe, how do these people sleep at night?

They take benzos.

Keep up.

Squiggle

Boombastic wrote: »

You need to escalate the reporting higher than the doctors if they don't care

The ultra efficient HSE will get it sorted. :pac:

Robbo

kdowling wrote: »

I work in a pharmacy where there is 98% medical cards.
Everyday we get guys in who get a months supply of diazepam and sleeping tablets and as soon as they get them they sell them on the street (in front of the pharmacy!!)
They get around €1 a tablet. Diazepam can be prescribed three times a day and sleeping tablets two at night so some of these guys get 90 + 60 = €150 a month!

That's a nice little top up on top of their dole money.

I wouldn't mine but you can buy a months supply of diazepam on prescription for a little over €5 so it's not like people with a medical card will not be able to afford them if needed if its taken off medical card.

Terrible Joe, the markup these Irish street dealers have on drugs Joe. I can fly to Barcelona and get me Benzos in a back alley off Las Ramblas for 50 cent, Joe. Granted the flights cost me a couple of hundred but my anecdote still stands as evidence.

So you think by charging someone €5 for them, it will stop them selling them? Sure if they're making such a huge amount of money then a fiver will be well worth spending - they're only reducing their profits by a tiny amount of cash

So basically the only people who will actually suffer are the people who need them. Fair enough.

Hersheys

Yeah I take benzo's and sleepers but its tightly controlled by my GP what I'm prescribed. I'd hate to suffer because of some idiots who sell on their stash...

eireannBEAR

i agree this is a problem,and it is mostly drug addicts,who get repeat prescriptions its entirely the doctors fault. 1mg xanax/gerax 30mg,dalmane 05mg,zimmovane and d-10s are in demand. and usually fetch 2e a pill on the street not 1e.

but they should not be pulled off the medical card the doctor should be more responsible. some people need these drugs,at most a heroin addict should get a 30 day supply once off not repeated. they can be useful and less life destroying than methadone for detoxing drug addicts.

Odysseus

So you don't know any addicts who get private scripts for benzos, hence they pay for them and then sell them on the street. If you work in a chemist you must.

So how would removing them from the GMS prevent addicts from selling them.

Also you cannot claim every GMS script for benzos gets sold, there are plenty of people on benzos who do not sell them and take them as prescribed.

I cannot see any reason for removing them from the GMS.

d9oiu2wk07blr5

kdowling wrote: »

I work in a pharmacy where there is 98% medical cards.
Everyday we get guys in who get a months supply of diazepam and sleeping tablets and as soon as they get them they sell them on the street (in front of the pharmacy!!)
They get around €1 a tablet. Diazepam can be prescribed three times a day and sleeping tablets two at night so some of these guys get 90 + 60 = €150 a month!

That's a nice little top up on top of their dole money.

I wouldn't mine but you can buy a months supply of diazepam on prescription for a little over €5 so it's not like people with a medical card will not be able to afford them if needed if its taken off medical card.

So let me get this straight, you work in a pharmacy that's filling scripts for patients who you then observe selling them on to third parties? You contacted the Gardai and they won't do anything and you're still dispensing despite knowing that these patients are selling drugs that only come on script. Why don't you's contact the superintendent or the drugs squad and alert the prescribing doctor while you're at it. If they don't stop prescribing these drugs report the doctor to the medical council. Out of interest, could the pharmacy not be held professionally and legally liable, considering you're continuing to dispense in full knowledge that those patients are selling on diazepam and sleeping tablets to other parties?

eireannBEAR

Saoirse Flabby Sax wrote: »

So let me get this straight, you work in a pharmacy that's filling scripts for patients who you then observe selling them on to third parties? You contacted the Gardai and they won't do anything and you're still dispensing despite knowing that these patients are selling drugs that only come on script. Why don't you's contact the drugs squad and alert the prescribing doctor and if they don't stop prescribing these drugs report the doctor to the medical council. Could the pharmacy not be held legally liable, considering you're continuing to dispense in full knowledge that that patient is selling on diazepam and sleeping tablets to other parties.

also its very easy for a pharmacy to refuse a script on these grounds,it happens all the time. so this story does not make sense when you think about it.

copeyhagen

kdowling wrote: »

I work in a pharmacy where there is 98% medical cards.
Everyday we get guys in who get a months supply of diazepam and sleeping tablets and as soon as they get them they sell them on the street (in front of the pharmacy!!)
They get around €1 a tablet. Diazepam can be prescribed three times a day and sleeping tablets two at night so some of these guys get 90 + 60 = €150 a month!

That's a nice little top up on top of their dole money.

I wouldn't mine but you can buy a months supply of diazepam on prescription for a little over €5 so it's not like people with a medical card will not be able to afford them if needed if its taken off medical card.

guess the pharmacy is here:
http://goo.gl/maps/EQbOj

or limerick :P

d9oiu2wk07blr5

eireannBEAR wrote: »

also its very easy for a pharmacy to refuse a script on these grounds,it happens all the time. so this story does not make sense when you think about it.

+1. And if the pharmacist has any concern about the ongoing prescribing patterns of one or more particular doctors, I would have thought that they'd have a duty to alert the medical council and the PCRS.

AlekSmart

Sauve wrote: »

Ah now you're just being sensationalist.

Yes indeed...being a Chemist Man used to be such a quiet occupation....

http://www.herald.ie/news/my-terror-at-hands-of-masked-robbers-pharmacist-81-29238195.html

He robbed the AC Boles pharmacy on Emmet Road in Dublin's Inchicore last May 2 with an accomplice, armed with a knife and screwdriver, and had been a customer, said Mr Boles.

Customer service indeed.....:(

JD DABA

up for anything wrote: »

This thread has nearly everything.

Social welfare
Social welfare fraud
Scumbags
Drug addicts
Useless Gardaí

Yeah its like some kind of rant pie/cake.

seven_eleven

You dont have to give them out if you suspect something is up.

Christ sake, I went into the pharmacy a few weeks back looking for nurofen-plus, and I was treated like as druggy. Not a single place would give them out.

ridiculous.

howamidifferent

seven_eleven wrote: »

You dont have to give them out if you suspect something is up.

Christ sake, I went into the pharmacy a few weeks back looking for nurofen-plus, and I was treated like as druggy. Not a single place would give them out.

ridiculous.

If you had been treated like a druggy you probably would have got them right away! :rolleyes:

Freddy Smelly

lol doctors need to prescribe junkies with placebos

Sleepy

Or just fill benzo prescriptions for these people with poison pills. Simples.

FanadMan

wonderfulname wrote: »

What about the people who need it? It's not a problem with the medical card, it's whatever dumb doctor prescribed the drugs, target your rage there.

Exactly! I'm on diazepam and sleepers (wouldn't guess it tho if you look at the time this was posted at ) along with antidepressants and stabilizers. Without the lot, I'd probably be in hospital again but hate to see doctors just throwing out scripts for anything to anyone.

Each month I have to give an account of my sleeping pattern and anxiety to get the diazepam and sleepers but have seen people just walk into the receptionist and ask for their script for whatever they want.

starviewadams

All the GP's and psychs I've seen over the years have been very,very cautious about handing out scripts for Xanax and Diazepam.I usually just get thrown a load of seroquel unless I can convince them that I've not been able to sleep or switch my mind off.

FanadMan

starviewadams wrote: »

I usually just get thrown a load of seroquel unless I can convince them that I've not been able to sleep or switch my mind off.

Dear god - don't mention those damn things! Years ago, I (while in really bad form) took nearly two weeks supply in one go just to shut my mind off. Result was 2 weeks in hospital. Maybe that's why my doc is kinda wary in prescribing benzos or sleepers :pac:

Calibos

FanadMan wrote: »

Dear god - don't mention those damn things! Years ago, I (while in really bad form) took nearly two weeks supply in one go just to shut my mind off. Result was 2 weeks in hospital. Maybe that's why my doc is kinda wary in prescribing benzos or sleepers :pac:

...because he is worried everyone will take 2 weeks supply in one go??

Pumpkinseeds

Many of the Benzos are anti-convulsant drugs. So should any epileptics be forced to pay for them on the GMS? I can tell you that anti-convulsants don't come cheap, well mine don't anyway.

partyatmygaff

You don't have to dispense whatever the doctor prescribes. It's your responsibility to make sure it's appropriate and less so the doctor's.

(If you're the pharmacist, that is)

hyperborean

partyatmygaff wrote: »

You don't have to dispense whatever the doctor prescribes. It's your responsibility to make sure it's appropriate and less so the doctor's.

(If you're the pharmacist, that is)

Really? thats mad, so the pharmacist can second guess the doctor? Does he see the patient file in order to make these decisions?