A pharmacist who took advantage of his replacements in pharmacies across Quebec to steal psychostimulants intended for people suffering from attention deficit was given an eight-month radiation by his order.
After three years of working in a pharmacy in Coaticook, Étienne Dauphin had decided to register with an employment agency to do replacements. He aspired to visit Quebec to reconcile his two passions: pharmacy and photography.
In the summer of 2017, however, the pharmacist began to consume, without a prescription, central nervous system stimulants – such as those known under the names Ritalin, Concerta, Dexedrine or Vyvance – which he obtained directly from the inventory of pharmacies where He replaces. In nearly two years, Dauphin made replacements in southern Quebec from Ayer’s Cliff to Thetford Mines, but also in the North at Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Puvirnituq, near Baie-James.
The choice of pharmacies where he works is not trivial, according to the Disciplinary Council of the Order of Pharmacists of Quebec, which recently published its decision: “[Étienne Dauphin] targets pharmacies whose internal control system seems favorable to it.”
Caught in the act
The pharmacist went so far as to make a false prescription for 75 methylphenidate tablets using the name and license number of his attending physician. A pharmacist-owner of three businesses in the Eastern Townships, however, notices discrepancies in the inventory and he notes a correlation between these and the replacements of Étienne Dauphin.
Moreover, the respondent was filmed without his knowledge in June 2019 when he appropriated drugs from a reserve to put them in his backpack. Dauphin will be confronted by this owner and will admit to him having stolen small quantities of drugs “in order to stay focused and avoid distractions caused by ambient noise”, which will lead to an investigation by the syndic of the Order of Pharmacists of Quebec .
In the meantime, Étienne Dauphin takes charge of himself, he consults a doctor who gives him a prescription in due form, and who certifies, in January 2020, that the pharmacist is able to resume his profession. Étienne Dauphin even gets a job in Granby after revealing the alleged facts to his employer.
In addition to the theft of psychostimulants in the three Estrie pharmacies estimated at $1,780 and the prescription of 75 tablets, the investigation by the Syndic of the Order of Pharmacists did not quantify the number of drugs stolen from the 14 pharmacies affected. . Étienne Dauphin would however have made a “[u]immoderate sage of psychotropics” for two years, a formulation that sows doubt as to whether he is really “trustworthy”.
That said, the pharmacist has returned to work, will be tested and has been unknowingly monitored for a year and a half. A radiation of eight months was therefore imposed on the one who pleaded guilty to 29 disciplinary offenses.
The pharmacist has not been the subject of any criminal charges.