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Grans dragged into illicit deals
By PETA HELLARD
05mar06
PERTH drug gangs are recruiting grandparents and mothers with young children to buy-to-order over-the-counter medications to be converted into speed.
Known as "pseudo-runners", the people – handpicked for their innocent appearance and convincing manner – shop around WA pharmacies for common over-the-counter medicines containing pseudoephedrine.
Many pharmacists are refusing to sell the products – including tablet and liquid forms of Sudafed, Telfast, Demazin, Clarinase and Codral – to customers if they suspect the medications will not be used legally.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch president Harry Zafer said pseudo-runners were proving a major daily issue for pharmacists and staff at the 494 pharmacies across WA.
"We are trying to minimise the risk of runners getting the product, but it is a challenge," Mr Zafer said.
The problem was so widespread that the Federal Government introduced regulations three years ago, limiting purchases to one packet a customer and requiring shoppers to show photo identification.
But pharmacists said increased security measures had not deterred "pseudo-runners" from their shopping quest – with many using fake IDs, shopping in teams and targeting inexperienced staff.
Regulations were made stricter at the start of this year, with the products to be sold only with the consent of the store's pharmacist,
"You feel frustrated and angry because you are trying to sell the drugs for the right reasons to the right people," one pharmacist said.
"But we are in the situation where everyone is a suspect and we have to quiz every customer and make everyone feel uncomfortable.
"It's difficult because these pseudo-runners all look like the average person – they're the elderly, mums, students, guys in suits. They go out of their way to look normal."
Another pharmacist said some runners were conning members of the public into buying the medication for them.
"They all use different lines and sob stories and try to make people feel sorry for them," she said.
"They often work in groups of three or four – one will come in and if we sell it to them then another will come to buy it soon after and so on.
"We have different suss (suspicious) people coming in wanting to buy these medications several times a week."
Pharmacists said pseudoephedrine – which was converted to methamphetamine and cut to make speed – could be easily extracted from the medications in a matter of hours using common household ingredients in a basic home laboratory made from equipment available in hardware stores.
About 1.8g of 70 per cent pure methamphetamine can be extracted from a single 30-tablet packet of Sudafed, which retails for about $13.95.
Police said the "runners" were being paid in drugs or on a cash-a-packet basis.
Det-Sen-Sgt Roger Beer, officer in charge of the Organised Crime Squad, said police were making progress and had shut down 57 laboratories.
From SundayTimes.com.au
By PETA HELLARD
05mar06
PERTH drug gangs are recruiting grandparents and mothers with young children to buy-to-order over-the-counter medications to be converted into speed.
Known as "pseudo-runners", the people – handpicked for their innocent appearance and convincing manner – shop around WA pharmacies for common over-the-counter medicines containing pseudoephedrine.
Many pharmacists are refusing to sell the products – including tablet and liquid forms of Sudafed, Telfast, Demazin, Clarinase and Codral – to customers if they suspect the medications will not be used legally.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch president Harry Zafer said pseudo-runners were proving a major daily issue for pharmacists and staff at the 494 pharmacies across WA.
"We are trying to minimise the risk of runners getting the product, but it is a challenge," Mr Zafer said.
The problem was so widespread that the Federal Government introduced regulations three years ago, limiting purchases to one packet a customer and requiring shoppers to show photo identification.
But pharmacists said increased security measures had not deterred "pseudo-runners" from their shopping quest – with many using fake IDs, shopping in teams and targeting inexperienced staff.
Regulations were made stricter at the start of this year, with the products to be sold only with the consent of the store's pharmacist,
"You feel frustrated and angry because you are trying to sell the drugs for the right reasons to the right people," one pharmacist said.
"But we are in the situation where everyone is a suspect and we have to quiz every customer and make everyone feel uncomfortable.
"It's difficult because these pseudo-runners all look like the average person – they're the elderly, mums, students, guys in suits. They go out of their way to look normal."
Another pharmacist said some runners were conning members of the public into buying the medication for them.
"They all use different lines and sob stories and try to make people feel sorry for them," she said.
"They often work in groups of three or four – one will come in and if we sell it to them then another will come to buy it soon after and so on.
"We have different suss (suspicious) people coming in wanting to buy these medications several times a week."
Pharmacists said pseudoephedrine – which was converted to methamphetamine and cut to make speed – could be easily extracted from the medications in a matter of hours using common household ingredients in a basic home laboratory made from equipment available in hardware stores.
About 1.8g of 70 per cent pure methamphetamine can be extracted from a single 30-tablet packet of Sudafed, which retails for about $13.95.
Police said the "runners" were being paid in drugs or on a cash-a-packet basis.
Det-Sen-Sgt Roger Beer, officer in charge of the Organised Crime Squad, said police were making progress and had shut down 57 laboratories.
From SundayTimes.com.au
