Advice To Drug Seekers
Posted by WhiteCoat on August 28, 2008
Keeping with the drug seeker theme …
Let’s say that you actually score a prescription for some “Vikeys” from the ED.
Chances are pretty good that you aren’t going to get a lot of them.
Pharmacists and docs work together as a team.
So if a pharmacist sees a prescription for a lot of Vicodin tablets coming from the ED, chances are that the pharmacist will call and confirm the prescription.
Most importantly, when a physician writes you a prescription for “10″ Vicodin tabs and then writes out the number “ten” next to it, most people with IQs greater than their shoe size realize that the numerical and written values have to match.
Changing the numerical “10″ to a “90″ won’t do you any good if you don’t change the word “ten” to the word “ninety” – assuming that you know how to spell the word “ninety.”
Pharmacists check these things.
Now this rocket scientist is on our list AND the pharmacist’s “list” – and the pharmacist has a computer linkup with every other store in his drug store chain in the US.
Congratulations, Dimwit.
P.S. It may come as a surprise to you, but checks have this feature, too. When someone pays you for something, the numbers and the words have to match.
Just FYI in case you want to start forging financial instruments as well.
Marie said
As a pharmacy staff member, what you say, good sir is the truth. We can sniff drug-seekers out a mile away.
Although lately we’ve been getting some pretty good forgeries, my considerable knowledge of printer inks and paper types gained in my one year of art school shall not be wasted!
SeaSpray said
Funny but stupid..and sad…what a waste.
I know this is naive but I just never thought about the volume of people who try to forge.
I wish everyone was just honest, kind and acted or created to the best of there ability. That things presented are what they are.
I know.
Naive.
But just imagine if everyone took all the bad things and turned it too good. If we didn’t have to waste time with wars and crime.
TK said
Yup – check my post where a similar thing happened to me…http://erstories.net/?p=449
Happy Hospitalist said
What an idiot.
Health news - Forging prescriptions said
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Nickie said
Wow… The stupidity never stops. I have to say that even though I’m a social work major and I’m supposed to be empathetic. And even though I’ve made a stupid mistake and lost count of patches over Memorial Day weekend and been through the hell of narcodic withdrawal, I still get mad at these patients. I am so afraid that if I had an actual emergency, and came into the ED with the drug list and allergy to Ibuprofen and the fact that so many people don’t know what Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy is, I’m afraid that seeing what you see (you being all professionals in the ED), you would be afraid to treat me or think I came in for drugs. Which is something I wouldn’t do because I’d much prefer to work with my regular doctor, but if I’m having severe pain which isn’t my usual pain, or bleeding, I’m going to the ED. So yeah, my empathy for the drug seekers went out the window a loong time ago.
Pharmacy Psychic said
Darn, I haven’t seen a really pathetic attempt at a forgery for a while. Not only do the number and the word have to match, but the ink should also match. And I have never seen a real doctor write a prescription in crayon. Yes, we had someone try to alter a prescription with a crayon.
Kelly said
Hysterical! Working for a psychatrist (and writing prescriptions all day long) – I am continually amazed at the courage of some people (thinking we just fell off a turnip truck)!
But, to be honest, the pharmacies have shocked me more than anything. I got a refill request and when I went to verify the last date we refilled the prescription – I noticed that we had never written a prescription for this particular drug (for this patient). So, I call the pharmacy and the pharmacist tells me that Dr. X is the original prescriber, but, the mom “told me to change it to Dr. Z and get you to refill it”. What? Are you kidding me? Is that legal?
Marie said
Kelly,
It is legal, but also very annoying. For instance, if the patient were orignally prescribed drug A by Dr. X, but switched insurance plans and now have to go to Dr. Z, and Dr. X’s office staff are total assholes and won’t refill when the patient runs out (because s/he now goes to Dr. Z), the patient usually tries to get us to request Dr. Z to ok a refill (usually for only a week or so until that first appointment.)
Is that clear as mud?
rogue medic said
Post script of this could be how to pay for medical school. Forgery tips 101.
Retail Pharmacist said
I really needed this for a good laugh after a tear-filled week at the pharmacy. Awesome. Thanks!!
NYPharmIntern said
I also remember having an investigator from the NY narcotic bureau say that if we see an ED prescription for a narcotic with refills, call because it’s probably been altered. 1 refill is not really going to see off the internal alarms in my head, seeing a refill of 20 written in black felt marker for a vicodin script when the rest of the script was either printed out from a printer or written in blue ballpoint pen just screams to me that the person who did this is an idiot, just like the person who altered the script above.
Dan said
The Dangerously Euphoric Violet Delight
Often, medications for pain are made from opoid plants. These purple-flowered plants produce opium poppies, which are used in the production of the analgesic, opium. Opium is what we in the U.S. call narcotics, and they dull and numb one who ingests what may be made by these opium poppies, as there are several drugs that have been developed from what these plants provide that are these prevalent narcotics.
Some medications are from natural opium, such as cocaine, or the opiates from the poppy seeds can be used to create semi-synthetic medications, such as Heroin. Heroin was marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 12 years, and during that time this company told others that heroin was a non-addicting form of morphine (pure opiate drug), since there were many soldiers addicted to morphine after the U.S Civil War. During that same period of time, Bayer marketed heroin for children who coughed. Of course, Heroin is very addictive, and is pointless creation is no longer available.
While Poppy plants exist and are grown in areas of IndoChina, Afghanistan is the number one producer of poppy plants. The United States is the number one country that consumes what is derived from these plants. Opium-derived medicines once could be bought freely in the U.S. by anyone less than 100 years ago. Yet now, they are classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as narcotics, and are scheduled by them, according to the danger they potentially could cause another who takes them.
While prescribed to patients for such issues aside from pain on occasion, such as chronic coughing and diarrhea, their greatest benefit is for the relief of pain experienced often by patients is the primary reason doctors prescribe opoid drugs, and they do so often. Vicodin, a mild narcotic, is the most frequently prescribed medication in the U.S. presently.
If patients take opium-derived drugs for long periods of time, tolerance may develop, and the patient may need to take more of the drug to acquire an effect of relief. In addition, the patient may develop a dependence on these types of drugs, which can lead to addiction and possible abuse. This is why overdose of these types of medicine occur- as the reasons for taking these drugs initially become replaced with relief due to addiction in some who take narcotics for a long period of time.
Dan Abshear
Tim Venator said
I am one of the people out their who actually have serious injuries and the pain that comes along with them. It is so aggrivating to be starting to fully realize the negative affects that drug seeker s cause people with real problems. I lost ny insurance and had to go to the hospital to see how I could avoid withdrawal and get on the indegent care program while waiting on my ssi disability, and was treated with suspision by the staff all because of te growing plague of drug seeking individuals(or maybe it’s been a problem and I’ve just been niave). It’s scary cause some people hear that I’m hurt and just care about asking if I’m on pain medication–I’m even afraid that people will try to steal them from me because even the maintenance guy at my apartment building–once he heard I was hurt–didn’t ask if I was OK, he just asked what kind of pain medication I was on. It really, really stinks for us people who are actually in pain that we have to worry about junkies:(