mmg.com.au

Police say there has been an increase in the trafficking of prescription medication in Shepparton.

It is being driven by people ‘‘shopping around’’ for doctors and pharmacists to obtain medication and sell it on the streets.

During the past six months, Shepparton’s Divisional Tasking Unit has found more medications such as morphine and Xanax through warrants on homes and on people being checked on the street.

The drugs found were generally prescribed to someone else.

‘‘There are many people appearing to be doctor shopping and therefore they’re going to different chemists and certainly some have made a gain out of it,’’ unit Sergeant Mark Washington told The News yesterday.

A Shepparton man in his 40s was given a community service order (formerly a community-based order) on Tuesday after the unit found cannabis and a large amount of prescription medication in his Vaughan St home last year.

‘‘There was a truckload of medication. It was like walking into a chemist,’’ Sgt Washington said.

‘‘This took it to another level.

‘‘There were three dresser drawers loaded.

‘‘There’s clearly an abuse of the system out there that we’re coming across.’’

Sgt Washington said people were going from doctor to doctor in the hope of being prescribed medication without being noticed — and doing the same with pharmacists.

He said offenders were also forging prescriptions and stealing blank scripts to fill out themselves.

Once the meds were obtained, it was then onsold for hugely inflated prices in a similar manner to drugs such as cannabis and methamphetamines.

The two, unit Senior Constable Nathan Trimby said, often went ‘‘hand-in-hand’’. The warning the increase served for the community was twofold.

The unit officers said for offenders, the penalties for being caught abusing prescription medication were the same as being caught with illicit drugs.

For residents not abusing the system, police said people had to be careful with their medication and keep it out of sight in homes and cars.

Unit Senior Constable James Oriel said it was ultimately costing the community because of the use of Medicare and of Centrelink schemes such as the health care card or pension card.

‘‘You’d hate to put a figure on it,’’ he said.

Sgt Washington said the unit also detects prescription abuse via information from the public and he encouraged people to contact police with tip-offs. Anyone with information or who has witnessed something suspicious should phone the Divisional Tasking Unit on 58205777.