A pharmacist addicted to opioids pleads guilty

Photo Martin Alarie
The pharmacist Sébastien Poulin-Chartrand has faced the College of pharmacists for a second time for theft of narcotics. He pleaded guilty last Wednesday to five counts of the offence, which may lead to a cancellation of 18 months.

Héloïse Archambault

Sunday, 24 September 2017, 08:00

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Sunday, 24 September 2017, 08:00

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A pharmacist montreal addicted to opioids has admitted to having worked under the influence of powerful narcotics purchased on the black market, on Wednesday, to such a point that it even had to be rushed to the hospital during a shift.

“He took everything that came to hand. It could take one or two tablets of morphine, which was in the hand. All this to relieve her withdrawal symptoms, ” testified Josée Morin, trustee of the College of pharmacists of Quebec (OPQ).

“Jar of candy “

“(The pharmacy), it is like a jar of candy. The drugs are there, ” she added.

The pharmacist montrealers Sebastien Poulin-Chartrand pleaded guilty to the five counts of the offence of the OPQ.

He admitted having obtained powerful narcotics on the black market (methadone, cocaine, oxycodone, morphine) in 2016, and stealing of the tablets in the pharmacy where he worked.

This is the second time that Mr. Poulin-Chartrand has trouble with the OPQ for this type of offence.

In January 2013, it has been cancelled for four months for stealing drugs in the pharmacy where he worked, including fentanyl (a potent narcotic).

“It shows a serious lack of professional judgment on his part,” said Nathalie Vuille, a lawyer for the trustee.

“One is in front of a repeat offender “, she stressed.

The current complaint was filed last February in the OPQ by the owner of a pharmacy of LaSalle, who hired Mr. Poulin-Chartrand.

He blamed his behavior “very intense, as if he had taken speed,” noted one employee. “He was galloping behind the counter,” she said.

Respiratory arrest

On June 23, 2016, the pharmacist was so addicted to work that he had to be rushed to the hospital.

He even suffered a respiratory arrest during the transport. At the hospital, tests showed that he had consumed several drugs.

According to the trustee, a physician qualified as a ” consumer chronic use of street drugs “. In fact, Mr. Poulin-Chartrand has developed an opioid addiction after a prescription of Dilaudid post-surgery, in march 2016.

Once the doses have been completed, the man, become dependent on it, turned to the black market.

“At the beginning, I hadn’t recognized that I was addicted, testified that Mr. Poulin-Chartrand. I thought that these were symptoms of the operation. “

“Much more calm “

The latter resigned from the OPQ last August and it now follows therapies to get out of it. He said not wanting to work again as a pharmacist.

“Now, I am much more calm, more stable. I am a different person, ” he confided.

The two parties have recommended a write-off of 18 months. The Council took everything under advisement.