Thomas Michael Taylor, 26, appeared in Bega Local Court on Tuesday June 28 on one count of altering a prescription for prescribed restricted substance, one count of forge prescription for prescribed restricted substance, and for larceny for the theft of a script from South East Regional Hospital.

Mr Taylor pled guilty to all three charges.

The court heard Mr Taylor attempted to have the forged and altered prescriptions filled by a local pharmacy.

Inconsistencies on the scripts were picked up by the pharmacy, which checked what had originally been prescribed at the hospital for pain-relief purposes.

When asked by Magistrate Doug Dick to respond to what had prompted this behaviour, Mr Taylor responded that it was a "stupid" decision and that he "was not in the right headspace" due to extreme pain in his left shoulder.

Magistrate Dick said the two charges related to altering or forging scripts could have carried six months' imprisonment and that if the man had had a criminal history he would have been looking at jail time.

"The reason this is such a serious matter is that they're very, very addictive drugs," said the magistrate.

"If you do it again you might be looking at jail time".

On the two charges relating to altering and forging scripts Mr Taylor was convicted and fined a total of $2000. For the charge relating to larceny, Mr Taylor was fined $500.

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