Suspect Medicine Turns Up on Craigslist
The California State Board of Pharmacy announced an investigation into people illegally selling prescription drugs online after an ABC Eyewitness news exposé.
Eyewitness News reported Craigslist.org users illegally selling prescription medications through the online classified advertisement service.
Virgina Herold, Executive Office of the California State Board of Pharmacy said, “It’s unfortunate that Craigslist is now being used as a means to connect people that shouldn’t be selling drugs with people that are interested in purchasing drugs.”
The Pharmacy Board is now looking further into two cases, one the case of a pharmacy technician accused of stealing medications from a West Hollywood drugstore.
The Pharmacy Board says that 95% of all online pharmacy sites are not operating within the law and are not licensed by the state, reports ABC.
In a sting operation by members of the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force (HALT), a multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency unit that includes agents from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Health Services departments, an undercover agent purchased erectile dysfunction medication from a Craigslist advertiser and then later determined the suspect had stole $64,000 worth of medication from his employer, a healthcare provider, in order to sell them on the internet, reported ABC News.
In a different case, authorities identified a pharmacy tech stealing prescription medicines from behind the counter of a West Hollywood drugstore where he worked from a surveillance tape. He was arrested at his Los Angeles home after about a two-month investigation and formally charged with burglary and grand theft for selling a stolen prescription medication on Craigslist.
Complicating the situation, law enforcement and health officials said many of the drugs sold online are counterfeit, are manufactured overseas and people don’t really know what they’re buying.
“These drugs could have adverse affects on people and they cause dangers down the line,” said Erick Aguilar, a county deputy health officer. “Some of them, especially the controlled substances, are controlled because of their potential of being addictive.”