A Perth pharmacist has faced disciplinary action after she was caught dispensing herself a cocktail of strong painkillers and anxiety medication without a prescription.
Gemma Louise Latter worked at Wizard Pharmacy in Carramar when between April 2024 and January 2025 she dispensed herself almost 300 pills, some of which were schedule 8 drugs, or ‘controlled drugs’ that come with a warning about the potential for misuse, abuse, and dependence.
Latter, a Curtin University graduate, dispensed the pills under the name of a person described as “an acquaintance through a mutual friend” and created false records to cover her tracks.
The medications included 70 tablets of zolpidem, used for the temporary treatment of insomnia, dispensed on five separate occasions, 20 tablets of paracetamol with codeine and 60 capsules of tramadol, an opioid used for “chronic, around-the-clock pain”.
She also dispensed herself 56 capsules of pregabalin which is used to treat “neuropathic (nerve) pain, fibromyalgia, partial-onset epilepsy, and generalised anxiety disorder”, as well as 50 tablets of diazepam and 28 tablets of tapentadol, a strong opioid pain medication usually taken after surgery or injury for acute pain.
State Administrative Tribunal documents published last week state that at no time did Latter have a prescription for any of the medication.
Latter qualified as a pharmacist in January 2018.
After her offending came to light, the Pharmacy Board of Australia placed restrictions on Latter’s registration to stop her from being able to access medications.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s (AHPRA) investigated Latter and on Friday the Tribunal upheld the Pharmacy Board’s recommendation to impose disciplinary action, suspending her from practice for 10 months.
At the end of her suspension Latter will have to complete one-on-one education with an approved educator of a minimum of six hours and address appropriate dispensing, ethical decision making and record keeping. She will also have to complete six one-hour mentoring sessions a month.
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