Through this partnership the foundation assists PD patients with little or no medical insurance coverage in obtaining medications, treatments, medical equipment, and various services.

As a result, although they can receive care in licensed clinics, they cannot obtain critical psychoactive medications.

And now pharmacies are having difficulties obtaining medications.

Some patients come in feigning problems in an attempt to obtain controlled medications, said Dr. Victoria Paz.

They trade unused prescription drugs, get medications without prescriptions, in some cases, lie to doctors to obtain medications that in their judgment they need.

Also, because programs for the homeless sometimes provide aid, people can contact a local shelter for more information about how to obtain free medications and medical supplies.

Under prohibition, millions of people find it very difficult to obtain controlled medications, particularly opiate pain-relievers.

Many customers order drugs from such pharmacies to avoid the "inconvenience" of visiting a doctor or to obtain medications which their doctors were unwilling to prescribe.

But, it said, prescription drugs appear to be an exception; some Medicaid recipients have almost as much difficulty as the uninsured in obtaining medications.

In recent reports, the development of a medicinal black market has come to the forefront of international news, a desperate population resorting to any means to obtain, at times life saving, medications.