Former pharmacist Adam Maxwell suspended for misuse of painkillers
A former pharmacist who put his own health and the health of his customers at risk by misusing prescription painkillers has been suspended from practising.
Inner East
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A drug-addicted former pharmacist who self-medicated using prescription painkillers without authorisation has been suspended for 12 months.
Adam Maxwell stole pills and falsified prescriptions while he practised at pharmacies in Ashburton, Hartwell, Pearcedale and North Melbourne.
He said he took the drugs to relieve himself from pain caused by a chronic vein condition.
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Mr Maxwell misappropriated Endone, OxyContin, Oxynorm and Physeptone on 60 occasions from Friends Pharmacy in Ashburton, Wood Pharmacy in North Melbourne, U Pharmacy — Hartwell and Pearcedale Pharmacy in Pearcedale.
The pharmacist was also found to have misused methadone and admitted photocopying doctor’s prescriptions for Tramadol.
Mr Maxwell practised in Hawthorn for six years before his offending began in 2011.
He self-administered between 80-200mg of Oxycodone a day during 2013 and 2014.
He then opted for a career change, obtaining a teaching qualification in 2008 and then accepting a contract position at a private boy’s school in Melbourne in June, 2015 — he claimed there were no criminal charges pending against him at the time he accepted the role.
But once the charges came to light in December, 2015, he turned down a permanent role.
Mr Maxwell notified The Victorian Institute of Teaching about his offending, but the teaching body did not inquire further as the offence “did not seriously impact upon Mr Maxwell’s current fitness to teach”.
He then began a new role at a public secondary school in Melbourne as a science teacher in April, 2016.
But Mr Maxwell “fell back in a cycle of drug abuse” during this period and photocopied doctor’s prescriptions of Tramadol.
While VCAT understood Mr Maxwell had an “extremely painful varicose vein condition” — the tribunal found he had “put his own health and potentially the wellbeing of patients attending the various pharmacies he has worked at risk”.
Mr Maxwell’s current principal is aware of the latest court proceeding and deemed he was “clearly finding personal satisfaction, engaging in a career to which he is dedicated and well suited”.
On November 29, VCAT ruled Mr Maxwell’s registration be suspended for 12 months from November 29, 2018.
Mr Maxwell must undertake frequent urine drug screening, three-monthly hair drug testing and regular reviews by a treating doctor or psychologist if he wants to practise again.
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