Pharmacy Daily | Guild urges more of STOP

NATIONAL Guild president Kos Sclavos says it’s time to “renew pressure on NSW and Victoria to make Project STOP compulsory”. He made the comments following a presentation by WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan at a Guild forum in Perth on Friday. O’Callaghan said that while 133 addiction-based sites had been discovered by WA police so far this year, the size of illegal drug “cooks” was becoming smaller due to the increasing difficulty of acquiring pseudoephedrine. The majority of sites were using pharmacy-bought pseudoephedrine, with the remainder of the illicit supplies stolen or imported. “Project STOP helps us identify high use customers and persons of interest,” said Mr O’Callaghan, who thanked pharmacists and the Guild for their assistance. Surprisingly, O’Callaghan, who has previously called for PSE products to become prescriptiononly, told delegates that a schedule shift is “not necessarily the solution”. Instead he advocated the exploration of other options and solutions with community pharmacists, stakeholders and law makers, with the WA Guild to be actively involved in the issue. Sclavos welcomed O’Callaghan’s constructive approach, saying “the important thing is to work with law enforcement authorities to tackle this problem while at the same time maintaining the availability of an important medicine for the overwhelming majority of Australians who use it appropriately. “Making these products prescription only would be an unnecessary burden on the health system and a drain on precious health budget dollars,” he added. He said that it was time State and Federal law enforcement and health authorities contributed to the costs of Project Stop “so that ongoing improvements can be made to ensure we stay one step ahead of the criminals”.

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