News Coverage
The Partnership for Safe Medicines has been publishing information about the counterfeit drug problem around the world for more than a decade. With experts leading the organization and a committed and passionate set of writers and editors, our content is more in-depth than many other sources, which simply copy links to the news from other websites.
In a new series highlighting the good works done by our member organizations for their own causes, PSM spoke with Dr. Rich Sagall about NeedyMeds, the nonprofit he founded to Americans who are struggling to pay for their medications and other healthcare costs…
On September 24, 2019, the Partnership for Safe Medicines and 19 partner organizations held two congressional briefings about the real dangers counterfeit drugs pose to Americans, offering a clear picture of why importation cannot solve the problem of high drug prices in the U.S.:
Canada does not have enough prescription drugs to share with U.S.patients, and organized crime is poised to expand the counterfeit drug trade into the U.S. to bridge the gap without regard for the health and safety of U.S. residents. “The money to be made is far too great to worry about human life.”
A Coral Gables, Florida ophthalmologist at the Beautiful Vision Clinic is being investigated for importing counterfeit Botox from China to use on patients. On September 11, 2019, investigators raided the office of Dr. Francesann Ford and seized boxes of Botox that they allege are counterfeits imported from China.
Two new studies recently published in Canadian Health Policy each reached the same conclusion: legalizing drug importation in the U.S. would cause catastrophic damage to the Canadian drug supply…
This editorial by C. Michael White was published in The Conversation on September 27, 2019. White is a professor and head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice for the University of Connecticut.
On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, counterfeit medication victims and their families, American and Canadian patient groups, local and federal law enforcement, and other experts in the fight against counterfeit medicines gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss how importation proposals threaten to trigger drug shortages in Canada while wreaking havoc on medication safety for U.S. patients.
Virtually every state in the Union has a serious problem with counterfeit pills made with fentanyl. During the month of September we have found reports of counterfeit pill deaths in Alaska, California, and Washington.
A medical doctor in Burley, Idaho has pleaded guilty to charges he used illegally imported breast implants from China on nine patients in his care. Dr. Temp Ray Patterson has admitted in court that he misled his patients by telling them the breast implants were FDA-approved; when he knew for a fact they were not.
Fitoterapia USA Inc., is voluntarily recalling 19,000 bottles of MACHO ARTIFICIAL PASSION FRUIT FLAVORED VITAMIN C LIQUID SUPPLEMENT, liquid dietary supplement to the consumer level. FDA analysis has found the product to be tainted with Tadalafil.
This editorial by Peter J. Pitts was published in The Washington Times on September 11, 2019. Mr. Pitts is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and a former FDA associate commissioner.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Aaron Michael Shamo, 29 has been found guilty by a jury of organizing and directing a drug trafficking organization that ordered imported fentanyl and alprazolam online from China and used the drugs to press fake oxycodone pills made with fentanyl and counterfeit Xanax tablets.
On August 21, LA City Attorney Mike Feuer announced two separate cases had resulted in charges. In the first, criminal charges have been filed against eight people for allegedly importing more than 100,000 units of non-FDA approved pharmaceuticals, and selling them in the local area on the street in front of local businesses. In a second case, Feuer’s office seized a website offering illegal, misbranded, and counterfeit medications for sale online.
AmEx Pharmacy today announces a voluntary recall of all Lots of Bevacizumab 1.25mg/0.05mL 31G Injectable and all Lots of Bevacizumab 2.5mg/0.1ml Normject TB Injectable that are within expiry to the healthcare provider level. These lots are being recalled out of an abundance of caution following an FDA inspection.
This editorial by Liam Sigaud was published by Inside Sources on August 27, 2019. Mr. Sigaud is an economic policy researcher who writes for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit educational and research organization.
Annapolis, Maryland resident Michele Marshall maintains she received counterfeit supplements from Amazon.com. Ms. Marshall purchased a probiotic supplement called Align from Amazon.com in April 2019. The actual seller was a third-party site offering the supplements for sale as a ‘Prime’ purchase, meaning the product is guaranteed to arrive in 2 days and is promoted among the first offering seen by Amazon customers when they conduct a product search.
When broken down to the nuts and bolts of implementation and operational execution, current drug importation plans fall apart. Drug Importation is neither a safe nor cost-effective solution. The numbers do not lie.
This editorial by Dana McDougall was published in The Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier on August 26, 2019. Mr. McDougall, Pharm.D., BCPS, is a pharmacist with the Covenant Cancer Treatment Center in Waterloo, Iowa.
WASHINGTON (August 26, 2019) – Shabbir Imber Safdar, Executive Director of The Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement in response to Florida’s submission of a drug importation concept to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): “Florida’s Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Concept Paper [PDF] recently submitted to HHS demonstrates that Florida…
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is warning the public after the seizure of counterfeit pills designed to look like Adderall, a medication used to treat Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The pills in question were tested and were found to be composed of illicit methamphetamine.
In a report published by the House of Commons, experts in the field of prescription medication described a dire situation for medicine safety in the United Kingdom (UK) if a “no-deal” departure from the European Union (EU) happens. The report noted, “Witnesses told us that, without provisions with the EU to continue to exchange data, the UK would be shut out of critical EU data exchanges on pharmacovigilance, falsified medicines and clinical trials.”
This editorial by Fergus Hodgson was published in the Epoch Times on August 14, 2019. Mr. Hodgson is an independent economic consultant, and Executive Editor of the Antigua Report.
The Arizona Republic has reported that Executive Director Shabbir Safdar, along with Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge Doug Coleman, and Phoenix-area pharmacist Randle House and met with U.S. Senator Martha McSally in Arizona on August 8th to seek her assistance and support for efforts to protect the U.S. prescription drug supply from counterfeit medication
John Adams of the Best Medicines Coalition, a Canadian group that represents 28 different patient organizations, has described the Trump administration’s plan to import medication from Canada as a “clear and present danger” to the Canadian prescription drug system, according to AP.
This editorial by Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D. appeared in Forbes on August 7, 2019. Dr. Winegarden is the Managing Editor for EconoSTATS and a senior Fellow in Business and Economics at the Pacific Research Institute.
U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer has issued a public safety warning concerning deadly counterfeit oxycodone pills in San Diego County. NBC San Diego reports, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office said border seizures, prosecutions and overdoses in San Diego County are on pace to reach all-time highs by the end of 2019. The Medical Examiner’s Office reports 50 confirmed fentanyl-related fatal overdoses so far this year, and says 28 more suspected cases are waiting to be confirmed.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was interviewed today in Iqaluit, and according to CBC Canada, he reassured Canadians that Health Canada is already safeguarding the Canadian prescription drug supply regardless of international pressure.
Partnership for Safe Medicines Statement on Reckless and Politically-Motivated Drug Importation Proposal Washington, D.C. (July 31, 2019) – Shabbir Safdar, executive director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement in response to today’s announcement by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless: “Less than a year and a half ago,…
In March, the FDA issued two warning letters to websites selling misbranded prescription drugs. The first website, azmedicinalshop.com, quickly went offline, but the second, thedonrx.net, continued to operate for months before finally going dark…
The Canadian branch of the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP), along with fourteen other Canadian patient advocacy organizations have written a letter to Canadian Health Minister, the Honorable Ginette Petitpas Taylor imploring her to prevent the United States from wiping out the Canadian prescription medication supply with their misguided importation proposals.
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A Pensacola, Florida woman named Son Chu Gilliam has pleaded guilty to charges that she bought bulk counterfeit contact lenses from China and sold them through her tattoo parlor, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.
A Utah man has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the distribution of fentany pills. A complaint filed on July 3 alleges that he distributed more than 10,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl over the course of 2016, and that a woman in Murray, Utah died of fentanyl poisoning after taking pills he sold her.
On July 3, 2019,CBS Sacramento ran a brief story about the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department’s unsettling discovery of counterfeit Oxycodone pills that were actually made with fentanyl.
New York-based Pharmalogical, Inc. (d/b/a Medical Device King and Taranis Medical Corp.) grossed $17 million by misleading U.S. medical practices into believing they were buying FDA-approved products rather than “unapproved products imported through a series of unidentified middlemen in Turkey and elsewhere.” President William Scully, was convicted of these activities in 2015, but the conviction was vacated in 2017. In 2018, he pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.
This editorial by Perry Thurston Jr. was published in Florida Politics on July 16, 2019. In it, State Senator Thurston explains that state-implemented drug importation will not bring any medication cost savings to Floridians.
A report just released the HDA Research Foundation demonstrates that federal importation proposals to allow drug importation are devoid of practical implementation guidance and funding, so will fail to guarantee federal safety and quality standards for prescription medication.
A pair of fake Adderall dealers who sold their counterfeits on the web has been arrested as a result of their Stamps.com account, Quartz reports. The duo allegedly sold almost $9 million worth of counterfeit Adderall by the time Tzu Yang “Issac” Lin and Meng Ting “Leo” Hu were arrested.
The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is reporting that Sabas Rodriguez-Cisneros has been convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and other charges in a drug conspiracy that started in October 2016. According to the DOJ, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol intercepted a package for Rodriguez-Cisneros that was being shipped to his girlfriend contained 400…
Recent news out of Texas gave updates on the cases against three men who were part of a major counterfeit pill ring busted in San Antonio in 2017. The ringleader entered a guilty plea and faces up to 30 years in prison, a supplier received a 21-year sentence, and a distributor waits to see what his future holds…
In June, the New Jersey Assembly passed A-5037, a bill that increases penalties for those who create, distribute or administer counterfeit, adulterated or misbranded medical drugs and devices. The legislation, which has been sent to the New Jersey Senate’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, would make the sale of more than 100 units of fake medicine punishable by a sentence of five to ten years, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.
This editorial by Adam Fein and Dirk Rodgers was published in Stat News on July 11, 2019. In it, Fein and Rodgers warn that plans by states to create drug importation programs will open new pathways for counterfeit drugs to enter the U.S. drug supply chain…
A series of eight different busts in Arizona this month has yielded approximately 132,000 counterfeit pills made with fentanyl, with seizures happening all across the Grand Canyon state.
This editorial by retired DEA agent Douglas Hebert was published in The Arizona Capital Times ,on June 27, 2019. In it, Hebert explains how drug importation programs will help organized crime expand their $200 billion-a-year counterfeit pharmaceutical industry into the U.S., at the expense of Americans.
On June 24, 2019, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), along with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) wrote a joint letter to U.S. Health and Human Services (HSS) Secretary Alex Azar questioning the wisdom of poorly thought-out importation proposals.
In this editorial, which was published by the Fraser Institute on June 13, 2019, economist Dr. Kristina Acri argues against importation, concluding: “Diverting drugs meant for Canadian patients to the U.S. through state importation schemes will create shortages for Canadian patients and increase pressure on potentially unscrupulous suppliers to source drugs from wherever they can, opening the door to counterfeiters.”
On June 4, 2019, Laval police conducted a series of raids to bring down the ring that was making the counterfeit pills. 235 police officers searched 13 locations in Laval, Montreal and the communities that ring the north shore of Laval and Montreal islands. The raids have resulted in the arrest of eleven people.
On June 7, 2019, a federal jury found Dion Gregory Fisher, 33, of Seminole, FL, guilty of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl and fentanyl analogue, guilty of five counts of fentanyl distribution and manufacturing and eight counts of committing money laundering transactions involving more than $10,000 of narcotics proceeds.
The Partnership for Safe Medicines and the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP Global), two public health advocacy groups focused on patient safety and the secure pharmaceutical supply chain, released an infographic today to call attention to the human toll that counterfeit medicines take on children in low and middle income countries.
Eight people in Stockton have been indicted after an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of over 50 overdoses in the Sacramento area in 2016 that included 12 deaths. The Sacramento Bee reports that the large-scale counterfeit pill making operation in Stockton was turning out thousands of counterfeit prescription pills made with fentanyl, methamphetamine,…
Thirty-one light blue pills seized in a drug investigation were identified by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation as counterfeits made with fentanyl in the first week of June, 2019. The pills were marked with the markings of legitimate oxycodone. The Parson Sun reports that the pills were discovered in a Parsons, KS, motel room on…
On March 21, 2019, 22-year-old Jacob Reis of Cary, Illinois pleaded guilty to charges he gave his 19-year-old girlfriend, Rachel Ramirez, a deadly fentanyl-laced counterfeit pill that killed her, the Northwest Herald reports. According to a 2018 article in the Northwest Herald, Reis and another young woman, Reanna Salas, were originally charged with providing the…
This editorial by Guy Anthony was published in the Orlando Sentinel on June 12, 2019. Anthony, President and CEO of Black, Gifted & Whole, a nonprofit focused on issues surrounding black, queer men, warns that drug importation will open up “a market for dangerous, counterfeit drugs” that will make it harder for people to live with HIV and other complex illnesses.
We’ve all heard politicians promise cheaper drugs imported from other countries, but are they just saying that because we want to hear it? Do they have any expertise that suggests they know how to make such a system safe?
This editorial by Nigel Rawson was published in The Hills Times on June 9, 2019. Dr. Rawson, president of Eastlake Research Group, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, and an affiliated scholar with the Canadian Health Policy Institute, warns that Canada would run out of necessary medicine if U.S. states begin drug importation programs…
Washington, D.C. (June 11, 2019) – Shabbir Imber Safdar, executive director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement today in response to the signing of Florida’s drug importation bill: “Today, Florida’s governor put politics over the safety of residents across the state. Although this was widely expected, we remain committed to protecting…
Three Los Angeles-based companies, and five individual defendants have proffered guilty pleas on charges that they were making and distributing herbal supplements containing dangerous levels of prescription pharmaceuticals.
“I’m pleased to re-join the Partnership for Safe Medicines’ Board of Directors at a time when factual information concerning the risks posed by medicines reaching unsuspecting Americans is critically needed” said Tom.
Former DEA agent Doug Herber wrote this editorial, which was published on May 31, 2019 in the White Mountain Independent. In it, he writes that drug importation will cause “patients [to] unwittingly purchase foreign counterfeit drugs disguised as low-level medication, unaware of the dangers, end up as an overdose statistic. “
According to the Department of the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker, “The Goldpharma network illustrates the sophisticated tactics drug traffickers and money launderers use to capitalize on the Internet and online pharmacy sites to sell highly addictive illicit narcotics around the world.”
This editorial by Holly Strom and Kenneth Schell published in U.S. News and World Report on May 28, 2019 warns states considering drug importation that doing so will not keep costs down and also poses a safety risk to patients…
A group of six people, five men and one woman all in their early twenties have been indicted on federal charges that they were using industrial pill presses to make counterfeit Xanax and fentanyl/carfentanil pills. They are also accused of selling the fake pills throughout Georgia via the Internet.
In this editorial, which was published in The Bend Bulletin on May 21, 2019, Canadian law enforcement veteran Don Bell explains why Oregonians can not rely on Canada for safe prescription drugs.
Dozens of the most highly qualified law enforcement officials and former, senior staff at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration have conducted in-depth analyses that show Canadian drug importation will lead to a massive increase in counterfeit drugs entering the U.S.
PSM started to track reported incidences of counterfeit pills made with fentanyl in October 2015. With the recent seizure in Kansas City, Kansas is the 47th state in which PSM has documented these deadly fake pills having been found in…
Koledin ran a website called awakebrain dot com that marketed and sold misbranded and unapproved medication imported from Russia and China. It describes several instances when either the website or emails from Koledin described medications as FDA-approved, when in fact they were not.
The FDA has strict oversight and controls on our pharmaceutical industry. From cradle-to-grave, the FDA ensures American consumers receive safe, uncontaminated pharmaceutical medications. These FDA assurances don’t apply to foreign pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical drugs are the most counterfeited item in the world; an estimated $200 billion industry. Based on our counterfeit opioid drug crises, we should think long and hard before considering such proposals.
Red Boiling Springs mayor Joel Rae Coe has been arrested on drug trafficking charges after a year-long joint investigation between the Macon County Sheriff’s Department the Red Boiling Springs Police Department, the Lafayette Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Authorities found 3 bags of 10 milligram hydrocodone pills, one page of 7.5 milligram hydrocodone pills, two bags of 10 milligram oxycodone pills, 154 morphine pills, 48 unidentifiable white pills, a pharmaceutical pill press and four pounds of a white powder that authorities believe is a fentanyl compound.
In this editorial published in The Hill on May 12, 2019, Brooklyn Roberts, the director of the health and human services task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, discusses the risks of drug importation:
“The safety of our prescription drugs relies on a closed system where drugs can be traced to manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and patients. Opening that system to foreign drugs would allow the potential for dangerous and potentially deadly medicines to land in the hands of the American public.”
Today at the National Press Club former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb addressed the issue of importation and specifically talked about the irony of Florida attempting to do it. Commissioner Gottlieb reminded us that the reason we have the pedigree system we’re implementing now (Track and Trace) is because criminal wholesalers in Florida in the early…
Washington, D.C. (May 9, 2019) – Shabbir Safdar, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s comments on drug importation: “We have worked on this issue for more than 15 years and it is simply not possible to import medicines safely from a foreign country’s drug…
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.
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a trio of Connecticut residents has been indicted on charges they were running an organization that specialized in manufacturing counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and selling them via the Internet to purchasers throughout the United States.
In this editorial published on April 30, 2019, former FBI Director Louis Freeh talks about the safety risks of drug importation: “There are hidden risks and costs associated with the scheme that have not been getting much attention which impact your health and Colorado law enforcement’s ability to keep us safe.”
The New Mexico Pharmacists Association recently sent their own letter to members of Congress expressing their concerns about allowing drug importation. PSM had the chance to speak with their executive director to learn more about the realities and misconceptions that people have about prescription drugs and drug importation…
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced the largest counterfeit pill seizure in New Jersey history this month. In addition to large quantities of other illicit drugs, between 420,000 and 620,000 counterfeit Xanax were discovered during the arrest and search of Chester Anderson, Jarrette Codd, and Ronald MacCarty for their alleged role in selling $2.3 million worth of illicit drugs via the internet.
In this editorial published on April 26, 2019, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, economist and President of American Action Forum, questions economic truths about drug importation:
“Drug reimportation has long been the fool’s gold of health policy, and the Florida bill is no different. It flunks a basic policy analysis. But most amazing, it is drafted to raise hope, but not actually help Floridians.”
We recently ran an ad in Florida about the dangers of attempting to import medicine from Canada, and the risk of getting medicine from other countries like China where much of the world’s counterfeits come from. WESH 2 News serving Orlando put the ad through their exclusive Truth Test on April 25, 2019, and the claims in…
In this piece published in the Washington Free Beacon on April 25, 2019, staff writer Charles Fain Lehman explores issues around Florida’s drug importation proposal. “Critics,” he notes, “fear that the actual realities of regulatory oversight—especially in the hand of an as-yet-unnamed private vendor—will simply be too challenging to manage responsibly.”
In this piece, which was published in The Deseret News on April 24, 2019, pharmacist and Utah State Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers raises serious concerns about importation as a strategy to lower drug prices:
“Anyone who truly understands how drugs are sold and distributed in the U.S. knows that there are very solid technical reasons that such importation is not viable. There are also serious concerns about drug safety, since the CHS cannot guarantee origin and purity on foreign-sourced drugs.”
In this piece, which was published on the ABC affiliate WJLA’s website on April 25, 2019, political analyst Boris Epshteyn explains that “this is a risky plan that will make it difficult to ensure that Floridians are receiving real and safe medicine.”
Politifact.com emailed us this week with questions about a recent ad about the dangers of attempting to import medicine from Canada. They labeled it negatively, but we noticed that they ignored certain facts while coming to their conclusion. In the interest of fairness, we’ve published below both the email from Politifact and our heavily sourced response. Judge for yourself if legislators in Florida are being naive about the risks of importation in a world with a highly evolved criminal counterfeit scheme.
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.
In this editorial, which was published in the Palm Beach Post on April 22, 2019, Michelle Flowers writes about Florida’s history of black market cancer treatments and the danger importation poses to patients. Flowers is president of the Oncology Managers of Florida.
The proposed legislation, H.R. 6554, will require that anyone who owns, purchases or imports pill press must be registered them with the U.S. Attorney General.
Tallahassee, FL (April 18, 2019) – Today the Partnership for Safe Medicines released new ads to run in several parts of Florida that highlight the dangers of Florida attempting to import medicine from Canada. Five different commissioners of the US Food and Drug Administration, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats, have stated that such proposals are dangerous to patients, will expose them to counterfeits, and are unlikely to reduce the price of medicine.
In this editorial by Terry Wilcox published in Inside Sources on April 18, 2019, Terry Wilcox, executive director of a patient advocacy organization advices federal and state representatives that allowing drug importation is not the right policy solution for America’s high prescription drug prices…
In this editorial, which was published in Colorado Politics on April 17, 2019, Don Bell, a 30-year veteran of Canadian law enforcement and border protection, warns that Canadian drug importation will open the U.S. to counterfeit medicine and exacerbate drug shortages in Canada.
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…
The editorial board of the The Wall Street Journal published this editorial on April 15, 2019. In it, they write:
“The argument that drug importation threatens the integrity of the drug supply is often dismissed because pharmaceutical lobbyists make it. But keeping the drug supply free from contaminated or counterfeit products is not easy, and the World Health Organization has warned that 1 in 10 medical products in the developing world are phony. It isn’t clear who is liable if counterfeits are found in Florida, but you can bet it won’t be the politicians.”
April 12, 2019 (Tallahassee, FL) — Importation undermines our core efforts to keep our medicine supply safe. State and federal authorities regulate every entity in the U.S. supply chain from the point of manufacture until a medicine is dispensed, and that makes counterfeits in the legitimate supply chain rare. In 2013, Congress passed the Drug…
In March 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to a website and an online pharmacy network for selling misbranded mifepristone and misoprostol
In this editorial, which was published in The Gadsden Times on April 11, 2019, former FDA-OCI director George Karavetsos points out the real dangers of drug importation:
“Even today, Americans are being hurt and even dying because of counterfeit medications being imported into this country. Adding insult to injury, while some might point to Canada as being a safe source, counterfeit medications are transshipped through Canada from other countries in remote corners of the globe.”
The News and Record has reported about a North Carolina resident, Yazid Al Fayyad Finn, who was arrested in 2018 for his part in a plot to steal a 200 pound shipment of counterfeit Xanax that was being smuggled across the Quebec-Vermont border.
WASHINGTON (April 8, 2019) – As members of Congress and leaders in the executive branch consider steps to allow wholesale importation of prescription medications, organizations representing consumers, employers, healthcare professionals, patients, and law enforcement officers, among others, are insisting that such proposals, if implemented, would endanger the health and safety of the communities throughout the country…
On March 15th, two different busts in Arizona highlighted the problems the Grand Canyon State is having with counterfeit pills.
The Lake County Crime lab processed more than 250 counterfeit oxycodone tablets, and officials with the lab told the News Herald that such counterfeit pill discoveries are on the rise.
This editorial by Dan Fucarino was published in Florida Politics on April 1, 2019. Mr Fucarino is the owner and a pharmacist at Carrollwood Compounding Center & Pharmacy.
“The monetary rewards of Canadian prescriptions are just not worth their safety risks,” he warns. “I urge Florida legislators to listen to health care experts on this issue rather than the understandable populist appeals and vote no on this dangerous legislation — and then get back to working on more productive ways to lower drug prices for Floridians. Thousands of Americans have been injured or killed by imported prescription drugs.”
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…
In this March 28, 2019 editorial for the La Junta Tribune-Democrat, Maine pharmacist Amelia Arnold explains her state’s experience with drug importation: “It is a concept that makes big promises in terms of quality and cost savings that it cannot, and will not, deliver on for the people of Colorado.”
Experts and leadership from The Partnership for Safe Medicines were in Tallahassee, Florida on Monday, March 25th for a Senate hearing on an ill-advised Canadian drug importation bill. During the hearing, our team heard many false or misleading statements about the proposal to take medicine out of the Canadian medicine supply and ship it to Florida. Here’s a fact check of the most egregious ones…
Simpson was accused of purchasing 10,000 counterfeit pills pressed to look like oxycodone but made with fentanyl.