Drug prices double in Bendigo after police swoop on major drug operation

Bendigo is bracing for drug overdoses as addicts stoop to new lows to get their next hit after a major drug operation was stopped and “wiped out” supply.

Bendigo is bracing for drug overdoses as prices on the streets double and addicts stoop to new lows to get their next hit.

Bendigo Community Health Service said the price of ice and heroin had doubled in Central Victorian in the past fortnight.

Supply chains have been disrupted because of the Covid restrictions across the state while police also swooped on a major drug operation near Bendigo.

Operation Ironside raids arrested more than 200 organised crime figures and stopped major drug operations including a Bendigo region shed which allegedly contained a pill press capable of churning out 1000 ecstasy tablets a minute.

Mobile drug safety worker Paul Morgan said the operation, which wiped out “literally tonnes of products”, was already being felt at a local level.

Bendigo Community Health Services mobile drug safety worker Paul Morgan. Picture: Contributed

“That disruption is in some areas as some drug dealers were taken off the streets and jailed,” he said.

Mr Morgan said the price hike could force users into withdrawal, which could trigger life-threatening seizures without the support of health professionals.

Mr Morgan said often addicts also refused to get help.

“A lot of people who are dependant suffer great shame because they have become dependant,” he said.

“They think they’re bad people.”

Mr Morgan said some clients were turning to alternative highs, including GHB, a highly addictive party drug, and prescription medications such as benzodiazepines and opioid painkillers.

“If you can’t get the illegal stuff the way to do it is get hold of a legal prescription,” Mr Morgan said.

“Pharmacists are very well aware that there is an element of drug diversion in place.

“Pharmacists dispense it in good faith.

“Nevertheless you’re going to get people who try to get around this process.”

Pharmacy Guild of Australia Bendigo district representative Kin Chong said new technology and policies meant pharmacist were better equipped to prevent people sliding into opioid addiction.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia Bendigo district representative Kin Chong runs the Thomas and Chong Chemmart Pharmacy, Castlemaine, and Terry White Chemmart, Kerang. Picture: Contributed

The Castlemaine Thomas and Chong Chemmart Pharmacy and Kerang Terry White Chemmart owner said the rollout of the SafeScript system in 2019 was effectively preventing at-risk customers from “doctor shopping” or accessing dangerous scripts.

Mr Chong said before SafeScript pharmacists had to play “Detective” if they were concerned, but now electronic scripts and the centralised system meant high-risk users could be detected.

“It’s a unique opportunity for pharmacists to actually have a chat with their patient,” he said.

“It’s not pretty out there, but at least we have a safety net out.”

Mr Chong said because of this Bendigo region pharmacists were not seeing a dramatic increase in opioid requests, “but we’re aware and we have to be cautious”.

Mr Chong said the threat of break-ins at pharmacies during the lockdown had led to many increasing their business’s security.

“We have to be more mindful in terms of our security ... we don’t know economically how it (the lockdown) is affecting their patients,” he said.

Meanwhile, up to four naloxone treatments are being issued to Bendigo residents each week, a drug used to temporarily reverse an overdose.

But Mr Morgan said the risk of overdose was not limited to addicts.

“The most common case of an overdose is someone, like a farmer with a bad back, who takes one more pill than they should,” he said,

“They don’t realise they are slowing their respiration down. They don’t realise they are going into a coma.

“(Naloxone) is a lifesaver for everyone.”