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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Opioids I’ve been put on the Prescription Shopping Programme

K

Kellbom4

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Sep 27, 2018
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I am addicted to opiates. I have been seeing different doctors. One doctor from a different clinic and a few doctors from the same clinic. I have been getting endone and OxyContin from one and oxynorm and OxyContin from the other. One of the clinics I have seen probably 4 different doctors just because it is so hard to get in to see my original doctor. I just went to the clinic that I just see the one doctor and he said he got a letter from Medicare saying I have been identified under the prescription shopping programme. It had what medications I have been getting and the number of doctors. He asked me if I had been seeing a different doctor and I lied and I said no I havnt seen anyone else but him. He asked if someone would be using my Medicare card and I said that I misplaced it a few months ago so maybe someone could be. I said I would contact Medicare and get to the bottom of it because there was no way this could be right. He gave me a weeks worth of medication and told me to ring Medicare to sort it out. I have no idea what I am going to do. If he got the letter then the other clinic would have got the letter also. At least I can say that I have been seeing a few of the other doctors there but there is different opiates prescribed so that makes it hard. Can anyone offer me any advice?? I really want to stay with the doctors from the clinic that I see a few different doctors at because I get prescribed a larger amount of opioids from there. If I get cut off by both of them I am screwed. I will go into withdrawal and be sick over Christmas and I need them for my chronic back, leg and coccyx pain. I am so scared. Has this happened to anyone else and how did you get out of it?? Desperate for help please!!!!
 
The Wizard of the Creek said:
Being cut off from opioids is the least of your troubles. Doctor shopping is against federal law, the act is considered a felony. If you get caught doctor shopping (which it sounds like you have) your punishment could result in a multi-thousand-dollar fine and several years in prison. You need to get a lawyer quickly, because going through withdrawals during Christmas isn’t as bad as going through withdrawals in jail during Christmas.
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Fuck are you serious?? I have an addiction I am sick. How can I get out of this??? I can’t go to prison I will die.
 
The Wizard of the Creek said:
I’m assuming you are from Australia (because of Prescription Shopping Programme PSP)?
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Yes I am from Australia. I am trying to get on the subuxone program but there is a waiting list. I’m hoping to get on it about February but I have to get by by then. If I don’t have any oxy I will be in incredible pain and withdrawal. I was hoping to wean off it slowly but that’s easier said than done. With all the new rules around opiates Drs don’t want to speak to you if you have a dependence or addiction. They just cut you off altogether and make you suffer and go through withdrawal. Drs are the ones that got me addicted by keeping giving me more and more oxy because of my pain and I didn’t refuse because I was in agony. Now they just want you off them and they will use any excuse to get you to stop. So I have been lucky with the drs I have. They are in no rush to wean me off but when I first get my script I can take up to around 300mg of oxy a day and when I’m low I can take 100mg to keep me out of withdrawal. Once I take lower the withdrawal symptoms kick in. So I have been just doing whatever I can do to find oxy. I didn’t think I would get in that much trouble by getting two drs to prescribe me. I’m so scared right now. I have children. My ex husband had been trying to find any excuse to take the kids off me. The kids hate living with their dad. We do 50/50 but they hate it. They love me so much. I might have an addiction but it doesn’t stop me from being an awesome mum. I need to get off the oxy but now I’m scared about this list I’ve been put on. What can I do to get off it. Will they believe me if I say my Medicare card has been stolen and someone else is using it? How can I get out of this. I need help please??!!!!!
 
Methadone is in your future....

That is where they send all the doctor shoppers that need more opiates than they can get.

So no need to worry.

As far as taking opiates in the comfort of your own home. Most likely you are done for, and will have to join a program.
 
I'm surprised Australia still lets this happen, thought they were very strict.

Even using the same insurance for all docs? You had to know they wouldn't be happy about that? If you hadn't used insurance, sounds like you could have gotten away with it

In the USA, they don't give a fuck about your reason, they'll lock you up for sure for making big pharma look like a drug dealer. Dont know what your laws are like there, and how willing your govt is to swing from "big pharma's" nuts, but I would do some research on the consequences, just in case.

As said above, methadone is in your future. Suboxone if it works, but you dont sound like you'd be satisfied with it; wont get you off.

Good luck. Read up on laws. You can be fucked for breaking rules, even if you didnt know they existed.
 
Please get yourself a lawyer. It doesn’t matter the reason. It is a federal offence. My sister went through the same thing. Unfortunately, you may have to do jail time. I would go see the doctor that told you and just be honest about everything.
 
I doubt very much an Australian would be jailed for doctor shopping as first offence. It varies a little by state but there are so many treatment/diversion options you won’t do time.

In NSW your best bet is a lawyer who can plead a Section 32 Mental Health Case - no conviction. I can recommend a good one. Will probably cost you $3-4 k in legal fees.
 
This is Australia. Forget gaol, just try and get on the programme as quickly as you can. That waiting period sounds ridiculous. Whoever you are seeing needs to be made aware of how serious your situation is.
 
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I am Australian and didn’t know much about this so was prompted to get onto Google for 20 minutes to learn more.

It seems that the system is designed to flag doctor shopping patients to pharmacists and doctors so they can manage them better rather than catch them and chuck them in jail. Although there are some legal penalties for persistent doctor shopping behaviour.

I also learned that if an Australian doctor suspects a patient is a drug addict they must inform the department of health within 48 hours or receive a $1,000 fine.
 
If you don’t know something as fact ..... the just shut the Fuck up !!!
a first time a fender with children , will not go to jail! But as said above, the days of Prescriptions for opiates,are over for a long time. There will be a large red flag on your medical files. Methadone is you best and Safest path forward, for pain relief , and eventually getting sober ( may be the only option to keeping your kids if your EX is a Dick !
so :
1. get a lawyer
2 do what he/she says
3. Talk to the best, Friendly doctor of your bunch
4. get to methadone clinic
5. maybe start NA meeting, and get attendance card signed
 
Iceman1216 said:
If you don’t know something as fact ..... the just shut the Fuck up !!!
a first time a fender with children , will not go to jail! But as said above, the days of Prescriptions for opiates,are over for a long time. There will be a large red flag on your medical files. Methadone is you best and Safest path forward, for pain relief , and eventually getting sober ( may be the only option to keeping your kids if your EX is a Dick !
so :
1. get a lawyer
2 do what he/she says
3. Talk to the best, Friendly doctor of your bunch
4. get to methadone clinic
5. maybe start NA meeting, and get attendance card signed
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Giving false hope is just as bad if not worse than admitting the negative impact it could have on her. You don't actually know what could happen to her, you don't know if shes a first time offender, just as others on this thread don't know what kind of trouble she could possibly get in. Shit, just telling someone to get on methadone by itself is the worst piece of advice on here.
 
I stated “ go to the clinic” meet a concelor ,and ask for advice and help!,
her only legal route out of withdrawals.
once that letter is sent, someone in person is looking at that file.What’s your suggestion to help?
I have lived in Australia, and England ( both very similar drug laws,and penal code)
So I am very interested in your advice ?
 
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Although the methadone or Suboxone program is not the ideal candidate it's where I have seen many people end up, I remember years ago my GP scripting me with benzos showing me a piece of paper with the names, medication and amounts acquired and a warning not to go to any other doctors for scripts. I was pretty much told when I moved to regional Qld that I would not get any of the medications that I had been taking for a good couple of years then and I had the choice of either go cold turkey and suffer or jump thru the hoops like a good little captive and accept liquid handcuffs, walk 3 km every day to the hospital for dosing and all the bullshit that goes with it. Point being depending on location as to what you get from whom, but be nice if you have to deal with AODS because they are able to make life rather difficult for those who have a tendency to speak thier mind or voice disapproval towards thier totally fucked up system. Wishing OP the best of luck.
 
I don't think OP would go to prison and be forced to pay giant fines...

Aus has prioritised drug court + forced treatment since the late 90s but even then it doesn't like OP has actually done anything to trigger the need to see drug court? They've just been flagged which limits access. I'm not sure of anything else to do beyond speaking with Medicare and getting advice on the next steps forward, but I think all the comments here about "lawyering up" and pleading mental illness aren't really helping/answering their questions. OP sounds already super anxious, justifiably, and even I'm stressed from reading this thread.
 
Here in Australia the folks who are doctor shopping are put on the naughty list and and also if I am correct are put on the DDU (drug dependence unit) which makes life very difficult for that person to get written anything in the way of opiate meds, benzos and a few other flagged medications and once this has happened the two choices are 1: go without anything/ cut off and on the registrar or 2: put up with the system and get the liquid handcuffs and be stuck on the program, I have seen elderly people who are on this shit go all because of the opiates taken over a period of time following surgery like a hip replacement. Makes me feel a bit angry as they're doing as advised by thier doctor and don't realise that what they are taking is habbit forming then next thing is off to aods and on the done... Sure as hell doesn't seem right to me, I have been off the methadone for 3-4 years now and have been freed from a broken and messed up system that at the end of the day don't give even a half a fuck about people and treat addicted people like sub humans. As far as the law goes I am yet to hear about anyone who has been hit with jail time for seeking multiple scripts, we are not in the United states and authorities have better things to do than inprision script shoppers. Also if I remember correctly after a certain period being off the opiate replacement program you're able to get some paperwork and jump through some hoops to have your name taken off the DDU register.
 
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anonymouse77 said:
How are you going, OP? Is there any update? I hope all is well.
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Poster hasn't returned since around the time this thread started. So they probably won't return any time soon.

I seem to have missed this thread the first time.

There's no chance they'll have gone to jail though. You don't go to jail in Australia even with much more serious drug offenses if it's your first time. You'll just get put on whatever your states drug diversion program is. MERIT in nsw is one they tried to put me on. Annnd I didn't go and I still wound up pretty much completely unpunished other than having my drivers license suspended for a year (some of the charges for drug driving).

The OP didn't say where they live in Australia, but in my experience it was always crazy easy getting into an opioid substitution program provided you live in a major city.

As someone else mentioned though I'm surprised this is even still possible. I mean I guess it's not seeing as they got caught. But it sounds like they got away with it for a while.

Where are all these doctors willing to just hand over controlled drugs? I've always had to beg mine for so much as a small Valium script :( and I just wanted them occasionally for anxiety. I can't imagine any doctor I've seen having any interest in writing an ongoing endone script. Not that I've exactly ever tried to get one. I've always just gone to my friendly neighborhood street pharmacist :D.
 
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