Pharmacy paid addict kickback for prescription: hidden camera
- September 8, 2008 5:58 PM
- By Enza Uda
Downtown Eastside doctors complained to authorities about practice months ago
Some pharmacists in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside routinely pay cash to drug addicts for filling their prescriptions, a CBC hidden-camera investigation has found.
The practice was revealed after several doctors complained that pharmacies were giving $10 a week or more to clients for each prescription filled if the drugs were dispensed daily. The daily prescription entitles the pharmacist to a daily dispensing fee, rather than a single fee for a long-term prescription.
In the drug-ravaged neighbourhood, $10 cash buys a "rock" of crack cocaine.
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