Since November last year there have been two fatal prescription drug overdoses and a number of non-fatal incidents, as well as three arrests in Parkes and one in Forbes over the alleged illegal supply of prescription medication.

Lachlan Local Area Command detective Steve Howard this week met with doctors at Forbes Medical Centre to discuss concerns about the illicit use of prescription drugs in the Forbes and Parkes communities.

Of particular concern is the pain medication, fentanyl, an opiate medicine similar to but more potent than morphine. 

It is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, or to manage pain after surgery and is also sometimes used to treat people with chronic pain.

Fentanyl is significantly stronger than both morphine and heroin, which Detective Howard said is why police are having so many problems with it.

“It’s like a heroin hit but it’s 80 times more potent than they’d buy as a powder form on the street,” he said.

Fentanyl is often prescribed as 75-100 mg patches which come in a box of 10.

According to Detective Howard, a patient on the pension can get a box for about $6 and unfortunately, a number of people have been rorting this. 

“It’s a problem along the lines of certain people who are abusing it and making a huge amount of money out of it,” he said.

“Each patch is sold for $350 each, so they can make $3500 from one box worth $6.”

Detective Howard said people are “doctor shopping” and travelling from town to town getting prescriptions to sell.

“They don’t use it themselves but should be using it themselves,” he said.

A big problem police have is that if they search someone and find prescription drugs they can’t do much about it, since legally the person is allowed to have them if the medication is prescribed to them.

Detective Howard said he wanted to meet with local doctors to make them aware of what’s happening and hopes everyone can work together to try to eliminate the illicit use of prescription drugs.

“We’re trying to make it a bit harder for these buggers to get their hands on it and sell for a profit,” he said.

“We sat down with [doctors] and told them what’s occurring and how many people are making money out of prescription drugs.”

Dr Neale Somes, one of the principals at Forbes Medical Centre, said prescription drug abuse is a real concern.

“It is a concern - if one of our patients don’t take their blood pressure tablets, it would be a concern to us, so it’s also a concern if patients weren’t taking their pain medication,” he said.

“We’d hate to think our prescribing this medication is causing increased problems in the community, rather than reducing it.”

Dr Somes said that there are ready alternatives to fentanyl available, so from now on they’ll be looking more favourably at some of those options.

“Today’s talk has made us think about our prescriptive behaviour for managing pain,” he said.

Fellow principal doctor at Forbes Medical Centre, Dr Gregory Whittaker said that the facility has been taking an active approach to the problem for the past few years and will continue to do so.

“We have an approach to controlling the problem and managing it,” he said.

Forbes Medical Centre policy is that patients see their usual doctor for chronic pain, as well as all medical concerns.

The doctors want the community to know that police are liaising with them about the use and abuse of prescription drugs in the Forbes community.

“We want the community to be aware that we’re aware,” Dr Somes said.

Detective Howard said he hopes to continue working with the doctors to flag certain people that they suspect are participating in illegal behaviour.