Methadone Kickbacks Investigated
If you wanted a little more evidence that doctors and pharmacists and others in the medical profession aren’t exactly on the up and up when it comes to opiate addiction treatments, then you’ve got it here in this story. It seems that a pharmacy in Vancouver has been accused of giving heroin addicts cash for their methadone prescriptions. Yes, methadone is a cash cow and this pharmacy, it seems, may have taken it up a notch to get as much of the $54 million a year in dispensation fees for itself as possible.
Why They Think There’s Methadone Fraud at This Pharmacy
A single letter. A Vancouver doctor sent in a complaint, according to Health Minister George Abbott. But other than that, nobody is available for comment. How many pharmacists are being investigated, if more claims have been made, how much heroin addicts are paid for filling their scripts there—all of this has yet to be made public.
However, in Canada, pharmacies and not methadone clinics fill the daily methadone dose for opiate addicts who choose to undergo maintenance. They get paid $8.60 for filling the prescription and another $7.70 for witnessing the ingestion, which adds up to about $6,000 per person per year. They get an addiction $1.40 per visit from the province to cover the cost of the methadone. All told, there’s about $54 million to be made in methadone maintenance in British Columbia alone.
Luring Methadone Users
Technically, according to PharmaCare regulations, pharmacies can’t bribe or in any way coerce anyone into using their services to fill their methadone prescriptions. In downtown Vancouver pharmacies, however, it’s not uncommon to see signs offering free coffee and cookies or a sign stating that they fill methadone prescriptions. And a few methadone users are stepping up and saying that they have been given cash in exchange for filling their scripts at certain pharmacies, a complaint brought up by competing pharmacies who follow the rules and regulations.
This is So Weird
It’s like through the looking glass. In the United States, heroin addicts are considered the pariah of any community. No one wants a methadone clinic in their neighborhood. Upscale doctors won’t get certified to dispense Suboxone because they don’t want “that kind of clientele” in their waiting room. But in Canada, it’s almost the opposite.
Perhaps the rest of the neighborhood doesn’t agree with the pharmacies on that point. One of the problems with giving an addict cash for filling their methadone prescription is that they leave the pharmacy with cash in pocket and waiting to take it off their hands are dealers offering crack, coke and prescription painkillers. Well, that at least sounds familiar. It may be a bit different in suburban areas, but the same can be said of urban methadone clinics.
Anyway, they’re working on a solution to the problem so that taxpayers who in essence pay the pharmacies’ kickbacks will feel better about the whole thing. Anyone have any suggestions for the Canadian government?
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October 31st, 2008 at 1:57 am
I’m a young 51 year old Heroin Addict currently on Methadone (METADOL). At one time there was 1 clinic in our city. In the past 2 yrs., 2 new clinics have opened that are not government run. I’ve been on the program for approx.17 yrs., more on than off, because I had 2 kids to support and I had an excellent job and I couldn’t spend my days running around for my next fix. I also dealt for many years, also off and on. When we had the 1 clinic here, if I ran into anyone, I knew them from selling to them, buying from them, or just fixing with them. It was a small circle. Now that 2 new non-governmental but private clinics have opened in the heart of our city, all these supposed junkies are crawling out of the woodwork. People I have never seen, young, and it surprized me, because I was dealing right up until the spring of 2006. I found out that is you got on the program, you received a letter for Social Services, saying you can’t work for a yr. because of medical reasons, and then they would be issued a healthy cheque every month, without your worker hassling you to work. The Vets running the clinic, did’t really care how wired you were, if you were at all. Sure, they took a urine for the lab, but put you on a daily dose of Methadone instantly with the pharmacy downstairs. One cracker told me she crushed up half a dilly, and boom everything came together, and these wannabe junkies actually got high off the methadone because they were NOT junkies.Whatever they told the vets, the vets did’nt question, did the paperwork needed for the clients cashcow,cuz they were too fucking lazy to work. Another guy I knew was always a speed freak and I saw him in the clinic, taking 25mg of juice, just for the cheque. I told him he’d pay for it eventually, and about a yr. later, he laid in his room for about 2 weeks, thinking he was dying because of the lethargic and paining he was experiencing, He went to the Meth Vet, and sure as shit, he was having withdrawals! From 25mg of Methadone!!! They increased it and all was well again, only now, instead of being just a speedo, he was now addicted to opiates. Was the cheque worth it! The peope who haven’t experienced Heroin, have no idea of the consequences, and unfortunately, neither do the vets. Either that or they just don’t give a fuck. They’re addicted to the money, no different than our habits excepting we’re only hurting ourselves, whereas, these so-called pros. are feeding off our misery. I would love to see these places sued so bad and lose their licences, because they are killing people all in the name of money. I asked to be sent to a new drugstore for my own convenience, and my vet said no, it was not a good enough reason!!!! I was being a party to their Cash Cow and I changed clinics as fast as I could. When I told my vet I was going to go to a different clinic, he said to me, you better tell me now, because if you are, I will not write the script. Unfuckingbelievable!!! And I’m on 230mg a day. They were willing to punish me, if i decided to leave their camp. I said Yeah, I’ll stay, cuz I was scared shitless of the withdrawals after 17 years of continuous opiates, It was pretty much bribery.
All these people I don’t know, the young ones anyways, should be helped and put on a weening program, while being maintained. But these vets would lose money so they keep upping their dose, til they are as wired as someone like me. It’s sickening. I wouldn’t even sell to someone who had never used, because I know it’s easy to get wired to the euphoria.These particular Vets are blood suckers, and the clinic is a cash cow only, it’s not there for helping the addict return to the normal world. What can I do about this clinic, and isn’t it illegal for the drugstore and Drs. to be in cahoots? If you saw this operation, it would make you sick.