BACKGROUND: Few quantitative data are available concerning abuse of me
dicine in the general population, although dependence on prescription
medicines involves a significant proportion of the population, Falsifi
ed prescription forms can be used as an indicator of abuse. METHODS: C
ommunity pharmacists in a representative network were asked to report
any falsified prescription form presented over a 1-year period. Sales
data were used to express results as abuse rate and abuse rate ratio.
RESULTS: Two-thirds of the 130 pharmacies in the network reported at l
east 1 falsified prescription. The reported incidence of falsified pre
scriptions was 2.3 per 10 000 inhabitants. A total of 392 falsified pr
escription forms was collected. The abuse rate ratios were 171 (95% CI
140 to 210) for dextroamphetamine-phenobarbital in combination, 168 (
95% CI 131 to 216) for fenozolone, 67 (95% CI 53 to 84) for buprenorph
ine, and 40.5 (95% CI 33 to 50) for clobenzorex.CONCLUSIONS: These res
ults show the efficiency of a method for detecting falsified prescript
ions forms using community pharmacists. The abuse of medicines already
known for their addictive potential can be estimated and alerts can a
lso be detected.