ABUSE OF PRESCRIPTION MEDICINES IN SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE

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.