Winnipeg's poor, sick and homeless are driving a black-market sale of prescription painkillers and sedatives in the downtown core. (CBC)Winnipeg's poor, sick and homeless are turning more frequently to the sale of prescription medication to pay for the necessities of life, a CBC News investigation has revealed.

The burgeoning trend is creating headaches for doctors who are increasingly confronted with the dilemma of denying drugs to ill patients on the suspicion they’ll just sell them.

The investigation showed a popular spot for the black-market sale of prescription painkillers and sedatives is on Henry Street, near one of five homeless shelters in Winnipeg’s downtown core.

It’s fertile ground for the sale of medications, as many people living in the area are suffering from physical ailments or mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

Or so says one area resident who has been staying at an area shelter and lives with physical and mental health issues.

Susan said she needs to take drugs like the sedative Valium and an antipsychotic called Seroquel, but said she often sells the medication in order to survive.

“You need hairspray and deodorant and a toothbrush,” she said. “They’re not supplied [at the shelter], so what are you going to do?”

People prescribed medications for physical ailments or mental illnesses sell the drugs to pay for basic needs like food, deodorant, and toothbrushes. (CBC)The street value of an individual pill ranges from $3 to $15. One bottle of 60 pills can sell for $300 or more.

But staff at the Salvation Army’s Booth Centre on Henry Street say the black market in meds presents such a safety concern that medications are seized from the people living there. Staff dispense to residents only what they need each day.

“We hold people’s meds for safety issues,” Major Karen Hoeft said.

Some, however, find the shelter’s system frustrating.

Edward Langile, 17, lives at the Booth Centre shelter and recently broke his leg. Langile said he thinks it should be up to the people who are prescribed medications to hang on to them.

But Langile said he understands why some people sell their pills.

“People are entrepreneurial and when you’re in need of money, you sell the commodities you have,” Langile said.

But, he admits, he’s seen violence erupt during a black market medication sale.

“I sat back here and watched a guy almost get stabbed to death for his meds,” he said.

Prescriptions present dilemma for doctor

One doctor who works on Main Street near the homeless shelters said he’s forced to balance compassion for his patients with his duty to responsibly prescribe drugs.

“The patients come with different stories … we can’t make everybody happy. It’s a difficult decision,” Dr. Majdi Askar said.

“So sometimes, I take more time to talk with the patients about the medication rather than just write a prescription. When you try to talk to them they just leave the office. Or they say something and they get angry,” Askar said.

He said he’s been threatened in the past for declining to write a prescription. Askar said this has forced him to hire security to work at his clinic.

Province working on more drug-tracking access

Pharmacies in Manitoba are tracking all the drugs sold through a centralized system called the Drug Program Information Network (DPIN).

Askar said he accesses the system through the pharmacy next door to his clinic, and said it’s a big help in stopping people from abusing the system.

“If there’s something wrong with the story, we just go on DPIN and face them with the reality.… We say, ‘You just got your meds two days ago and you told me you haven’t had them for a month. How come?’” Askar said.

The province said Wednesday it is working on giving doctors increased access to the DPIN.