Fake Drugs Have Real Consequences for Patients
Black market medicine is terrible for patients all over the world, including Americans. At best, counterfeit and substandard medicine may not adequately treat a patient's illness. At worst, counterfeit medicines may cause poisoning or death.
Each of the following stories mentions people who have been sickened or died after being treated with fake medicine. Every day, American patients are harmed when they break the closed U.S. drug supply.
Grand Junction resident Andrea Thomas lost her daughter Ashley to counterfeit oxycodone in June 2018. Now, she is determined to protect others. Her new foundation, Voices for Awareness, promotes awareness about substance abuse and self-harm. On July 27, 2019, the organization will hold its first conference—free to the public—at Costa Mesa University, as well as the “Fight for Awareness,” a professional boxing event in which fighters from all over Colorado will dedicate their match to a loved one lost to substance abuse or suicide.
Jacob Medina and his pregnant girlfriend, Diane Erika Marin, have been arrested in connection with a counterfeit pill distribution ring that is allegedly responsible for killing an Arkansas man, the KATV reports.
Counterfeit medicines kill up to 300,000 children each year In a shocking new report published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, researchers have documented the true toll of counterfeit medicines around the world due to medicine being subtherapeutic or outright ineffective. Subtherapeutic medicine allows patients to die without sufficient treatment, but…
Immunodeficient patients need to strictly adhere to our prescribed drug protocols because any slip could compromise our current treatment plans. Only purchasing FDA-approved medicines from licensed U.S pharmacies is an essential step in keeping ourselves as healthy as possible…
According to the Hattiesburg American, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics officials reported that there have been five overdoses and one death since the beginning of March in the area.
It isn’t just policymakers who believe drug importation will open the U.S. drug supply to counterfeits. In this editorial, published in the Times of Northwest Indiana on March 6, 2019, HIV-positive advocate Brandon Macsata explains that his own physician objected to ordering medicine from Canadian online pharmacies:
“It never crossed my mind that I might have been taking counterfeit medicine, or that the medicines meant to control my HIV could be compromising my immune system. So when my doctor found out, she told me to stop immediately. She warned me that online pharmacies often sell counterfeit drugs.”
The U.S. Department of Justice handed down a superseding indictment in federal court charging five people for their roles in the counterfeit fentanyl pill death of a 32-year-old mother in Colorado in June 2018…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a guilty plea from Tianna Cordova in a Nevada case. Cordova admitted to selling drugs, including the counterfeit pill made with fentanyl that killed 26-year-old Christina Kuerner…
Charges announced against John Mendieta of Mount Vernon, Washington. Mendieta allegedly sold a counterfeit Percocet pill to 27-year-old Ronald Schweigert, who died after taking it. Schweigert was one of four Mount Vernon residents to die after taking a counterfeit Percocet pill laced with fentanyl in less than 45 days…
The U.S. Department of Justice received a guilty plea from Gage S. Lankas in federal court. Lankas sold hundreds of Xanax pills and 14 oxycodone pills to a 17-year-old. The oxycodone pills were counterfeits made with carfentanil and almost killed the young man who only took half of one…