B.C. To End Cash For Meth Scheme

North Surrey pharmacies offering cash for methadone prescriptions will lose
provincial funding if a proposed agreement between the B.C. Pharmacy
Association and Pharmacare is finalized in the coming weeks.

Bob Kucheran, executive director of the B.C. Pharmacy Association, told The
Leader Friday he's close to an agreement with the province on methadone
funding.

While he wouldn't provide specifics, he said the proposal includes a clause
that would clamp down on unacceptable incentives.

Last December, The Leader revealed that as many as four North Surrey
pharmacies were offering up to $40 cash per month to patients for their
methadone prescriptions.

Methadone pharmacies receive monthly payments of $105 per patient plus the
cost of the drug, which ranges from two to 50 cents per milligram.

Some North Surrey pharmacies have offered cash to recovering heroin addicts
to increase business and monthly payments from taxpayer-funded Pharmacare.

The College of Pharmacists has been aware of the cash-back practice for
almost a year, and has recently learned some patients use the money to buy
illicit drugs.

Kucheran says the scheme is unacceptable and the proposed agreement with
the province would put a quick end to it.

"It bloody well better," Kucheran says. "From my part, I regret that we
actually have to write those clauses into contracts. One would think that a
person who called themselves a professional would know that that kind of
practice is not on."

He anticipates pharmacies will be scrutinized closely by the province and
that pharmacists who continue the scheme put their livelihood at risk.

"It will be subject to audit," Kucheran says. "So if you're audited and
it's discovered you've broken that deal, they just tear up the contract,
you don't do business with Pharmacare anymore."

The proposed deal also recommends getting rid of the $105 flat fee in
favour of a per-visit fee.

In addition, payments for the drug would be set at a specific price.

Surrey-Whalley MLA Joan Smallwood was pleased to hear the proposed deal
will clamp down on errant pharmacies.

"I think it's pretty clear that the message from Surrey is unanimous that
this (the cash back) should not happen," Smallwood says. "I'll be looking
for an agreement that has some teeth, that is enforceable."