Disadvantaged older Australians forced to sell prescription drugs to stay afloat
A report from the Rural Doctors Association has found a startling number of elderly Australians living in regional areas are selling their chronic pain medications for up to $20 per pill, simply to pay the bills.
“Some of my patients today were telling me how they were approached to sell their drugs,” president of the association, Dr Ewen McPhee told HuffPost Australia. “It’s the tip of the iceberg.”
Dr McPhee says a lack of pain management facilities in rural areas combined with financial difficulties are to blame for people being pressured into selling their much-needed pain medicine – OxyContin and Endone, for example. Sadly, it’s also leading to an increase in home break-ins as people become more desperate.
“On the ground we see these things every day,” he continued. “More people die from prescription drug misuse than from illegal ones.” In fact, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre estimates as many as 800 Australians die each year from prescription drug overdoses.
It’s led to a call from medical professionals for the introduction of a paperless, country-wide, real-time monitoring program for prescription drugs, similar to the one currently operating in Tasmania.
Eric Oguzkaya, a pharmacist from Mildura, told the ABC that elderly patients sold more drugs than previously suspected, with many being intercepted and intimidated by dealers outside medical clinics and pharmacies.
“The dealers start with the charm and they start with trying to be friendly,” Oguzkaya explained. “Depending on how they go, they can start becoming threatening and asking for their medication if they are not willing to sell it straight up.
He recalled the moment a customer was roped into selling their drugs by a dealer who approached them and said, “Look, you’re going to have lots of funeral bills soon, do you really want to put that burden on your family? Here’s some extra money to get you through and you can save your money up so that when the end does come along, you will have the money ready.”
Tell us in the comments below, what do you think needs to be done to prevent elderly Australians from being coerced into drug deals?