Barcode Plan To Stop Forged Prescriptions
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday June 10, 2000
A plan to put barcodes on prescriptions could prevent the trade in forged scripts worth millions of dollars each year, Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge said yesterday.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) Victorian branch yesterday released a study showing that up to 20,000 forged prescriptions are exchanged for restricted drugs in Victoria every year.
``We are proposing from later this year to change prescriptions so that they are barcoded and can contain the Medicare number of an individual.
``So that will go a very long way toward fixing that sort of problem.
``I don't think the problem is going to exist nearly to the same extent in six months' time," Dr Wooldridge said.
The problem cost the Federal Government up to $20million in revenue lost by paying for forged prescriptions in Victoria alone, and up to $50million nationally, according to the PSA.
The PSA said many blank prescriptions were stolen from doctors' surgeries and others were photocopied or produced using computer printers.
Heroin addicts and other illegal drug users were the main users of forged prescriptions, but organised crime could be involved in the trade, the PSA said.
``We believe that on the figures we have available it's up to about 20,000 prescriptions being diverted to the illicit market in Victoria each year," PSA spokesman Newton Irvine said.
The PSA made a series of recommendations to tighten the control of blank prescription pads and said the Federal Government should offer incentives to pharmacists for detecting and reporting forgery cases.
It said the Victorian police should consider setting up a special desk to deal with problems, along the lines of the South Australia Police Forged Prescription Desk.
The study found some of the main drugs sought by forgers were pethidine, codeine, temazepam and morphine.
© 2000 Illawarra Mercury
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