A group of doctors broke the hippocratic oath when they decided to make some quick buck and sell cough syrup medication to drug syndicates and addicts.
As a cheap, obscure way to get high — through codeine, an active ingredient in cough mixtures with sedative properties — drug addicts obtain and consume cough syrup exceeding the recommended dosage as a substitute for other drugs. Alarmingly, doctors are one of the main sources for the drug syndicate's supply of cough syrup.
According to The Sunday Times, six doctors were among 10 medical personnel caught selling cough syrup to unsavoury customers — and they've been raking in a lot of money from the rising black market price.
A 3.8-litre canister of cough syrup from pharmaceutical companies will cost doctors $40 to $50, but it can sell for up to $1,100 on the black market today. In 2009, it would have only fetched $650.
Since 2012, one doctor has been jailed, two have been fined, another two have been charged in court while investigations are ongoing for the sixth.
Their profits ranged from $30,000 to $500,000, and all ill gains were made in a very short time.
Personnel working in the health-care industry have also been caught selling cough syrup — two clinic assistant were jailed for stealing the medication from employers. Another individual set up a clinic and continued purchasing codeine, even after his hired doctor quit working in the establishment.
Reportedly, the Health Sciences Authority have seized almost 12,000 liters of black market cough syrup, containing a street value of $2.5 million between 2009 and 2013.
Photo: whiskeyandtears via Flickr
A group of doctors broke the hippocratic oath when they decided to make some quick buck and sell cough syrup medication to drug syndicates and addicts.
As a cheap, obscure way to get high — through codeine, an active ingredient in cough mixtures with sedative properties — drug addicts obtain and consume cough syrup exceeding the recommended dosage as a substitute for other drugs. Alarmingly, doctors are one of the main sources for the drug syndicate's supply of cough syrup.
According to The Sunday Times, six doctors were among 10 medical personnel caught selling cough syrup to unsavoury customers — and they've been raking in a lot of money from the rising black market price.
A 3.8-litre canister of cough syrup from pharmaceutical companies will cost doctors $40 to $50, but it can sell for up to $1,100 on the black market today. In 2009, it would have only fetched $650.
Since 2012, one doctor has been jailed, two have been fined, another two have been charged in court while investigations are ongoing for the sixth.
Their profits ranged from $30,000 to $500,000, and all ill gains were made in a very short time.
Personnel working in the health-care industry have also been caught selling cough syrup — two clinic assistant were jailed for stealing the medication from employers. Another individual set up a clinic and continued purchasing codeine, even after his hired doctor quit working in the establishment.
Reportedly, the Health Sciences Authority have seized almost 12,000 liters of black market cough syrup, containing a street value of $2.5 million between 2009 and 2013.
Photo: whiskeyandtears via Flickr