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.
Receiving an organ transplant is like being given a new lease on life, but that lease comes with an exceptionally important string attached to it. Strict adherence to your prescribed medications is your best line of defense against rejection. It is crucial that transplant recipients only purchase FDA-approved medications to decrease the chance that their bodies might reject the new organs…
Federal drug trafficking charges have been filed against Gizachew Wondie, a resident of the Capitol Hill section of Seattle, on charges that he was manufacturing and selling counterfeit Xanax pills and other drugs. In addition to the discovery of a handgun, investigators found approximately 11,000 ‘Xanax’ pills stored in large plastic bags, and a large pill press.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a guilty plea from Fernando Jesus Peraza. The U.S. citizen was stopped by Customs and Border Protection attempting to enter into the country with over 20,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl hidden in his vehicle on August 8, 2018…
A Brisbane, California resident has been sentenced to ten years in prison for manufacturing and distributing counterfeit Adderall, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Gino Carl von Eckstein, who pleaded guilty in September, was originally charged with producing fake Adderall pills with pill presses located at a house he was using in San Leandro.
Charges announced against H.J. Zaker Sinder and Mary Mazzi. Police allege that the pair manufactured and distributed counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax pills in the Ocean County, New Jersey area. Testing revealed the pills to contain both fentanyl and heroin…
A federal judge in Maryland handed down a 57-month prison sentence to Ryan Farace. Farace manufactured nearly a million counterfeit Xanax pills and sold them on various online marketplaces…
In this editorial, which was published in The Salt Lake Tribune on December 10, 2018, former DEA agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy, warn that importing prescription drugs from other countries is “an extremely risky enterprise with potentially tragic consequences.”
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…
Arizona continues to battle against counterfeit pills made with fentanyl being smuggled across the border by Mexican drug cartels, and victims continue to stack up. One doctor warns about seeing teenagers being taken to the ER after ingesting these pills, and two families hope that by letting people know they lost loved ones to fake fentanyl pills, it might prevent someone else from making the same mistake…
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has secured another permanent injunction against two individuals for illegally importing and distributing counterfeit, banned, and misbranded pharmaceuticals. Flavia Maria Rodriguez and Salvador Enrique Velasco Sanchez may never again sell medicines or be involved in advertising of any prescription drugs or herbal remedies…
Charges have been filed against Evan and Matthew Stanbery of Bremerton, Washington. The brothers allegedly were the masterminds behind a sophisticated counterfeit pill manufacturing operation. During a search of an apartment used by the pair, police found die molds to make multiple types of pills and three pill presses…
A stolen vehicle report filed with the Montville Police Department in New Jersey led police to break up a narcotics processing lab. Inside the residence of Juan Rodriguez and Beatrice Sepulveda, police found 27 pounds of fake pills made with fentanyl and two additional kilograms of powdered fentanyl…
Hoping to save her failing vision, a retired woman underwent what turned out to be a non-FDA approved treatment at a stem cell clinic in Georgia in September 2016. By December of that year, both of her retinas had detached, leaving her permanently blinded…
In this editorial, which appeared in Inside Sources on November 20, 2018, former chief superintendent of the Ontario Provincial Police Don Bell discusses the threat that gang-backed fentanyl trafficking poses to the U.S. and Canada, and emphasizes the importance of working together to secure the border.
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…
Law enforcement in Rock Hill, South Carolina arrested a man for allegedly selling counterfeit fentanyl pills. A tip from a concerned citizen started off the six-month long investigation.A search of Gaston’s Barber & Style turned up 22 fake fentanyl pill and led to owner Jimmy Gaston being charged with six counts…
Some seniors who winter in the south cross the border to purchase prescription drugs in Mexico, frequently citing the savings. With counterfeit drugs being an issue acknowledged by Mexico’s government, Americans need to know that there are better savings to be found here in the U.S. They just need to ask their pharmacist…
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation just released their annual report and they consider counterfeit fentanyl pills purchased online to be a contributing factor to the opioid crisis. Across the state, authorities are finding more and more of these types of cases and warned of increased incidents of overdose outbreaks caused by these types of pills…
The U.S. DOJ announced a guilty plea from Robert Ian Thatcher of Elmira, NY. He was a leader of a counterfeit fentanyl pill drug ring that manufactured and distributed fake 30 milligram Percocet pills in the area, as well as in North Carolina. At least two people died from taking the pills sold to this group…
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently released their 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment. With over seven times more people abusing prescription drugs than heroin in this country, the DEA stated that counterfeit pills containing fentanyl pose a genuine public health risk and a law enforcement challenge…
For the second time this year, an indictment has been handed down against the individual who allegedly sold a counterfeit fentanyl pill that killed a member of the U.S. Armed Forces. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the overdose death of a Navy service member led to the charges against Marcel Travon Robinson III…
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…
A grand jury in Northampton County in Pennsylvania charged Gustavo Rivera after prosecutors made their case that he was the person who sold a counterfeit Percocet pill that contained fentanyl to Kara Heckenberger. She died after taking that pill on August 9, 2017…
The California Attorney General announced sentences for three members of the Kybych family. The trio admitted to illegally importing non FDA-approved medicines from Russia and selling them to customers at their stores in the Sacramento area…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a guilty plea from a Connecticut man who was distributing counterfeit Xanax. Data retrieved from the mobile phone of a Seymour resident that died led police to Kamil Golebiowski. In June 2017, two packages shipped from Canada to him were found to contain approximately 1,400 counterfeit Xanax…
In a Mosaic Science article shared by CNN, author Srinath Perur delves into the global pharmaceutical industry and discovers that in India, counterfeit and substandard medications are an everyday occurrence.
Reports made to the U.S. FDA of adverse reactions caused by items sold at a marketplace in St. Paul, Minnesota led to the seizure of misbranded and counterfeit drugs. While no one was arrested, citations were issued to multiple vendors…
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) have announced the arrest and indictment of a 23 year-old Highland, California man accused of selling counterfeit oxycodone pills that killed a La Jolla resident.
A Henderson, Nevada woman has been charged in federal court for allegedly selling the counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl that killed 26-year-old Christiana Kuerner on March 14, 2017. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Daniel Neill of the DEA said fentanyl seizures are increasing in the southern part of the state, with 20,000-30,000 pills being found at a time…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in their report U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the International Mail Facilities (IMFs), describes the daunting job that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces when attempting to weed out counterfeit medications and packages containing illicit fentanyl. In 2017, IMFs received 275 million packages. Of these, 10,000 were screened by CBP, and of those 86% contained drugs. The investigation of a suspect package is incredibly time-consuming; an experienced FDA investigator might take as long as 20 minutes to process a package containing just on product.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations has worked thousands of cases since its inception in 1991. With a new fiscal year just starting for them, PSM took a look back at progress made by some of the investigations they have been involved in over the past year…
A new superseding indictment was issued against Aaron Shamo, the Utah resident who allegedly ran a drug trafficking ring that sold hundreds of thousands of counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax pills. The fake oxycodone pills were made with fentanyl, and the new indictment charges Shamo with the June 13, 2016 death of an individual by one of those pills…
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the conclusion of Operation Pangea XI’s International Week of Action. In its eleventh year, Operation Pangea targets websites that sell counterfeit and misbranded drugs. This year’s effort shut down 465 websites that were selling non-FDA approved prescription drugs including drugs for oncology, antivirals, opioids and other untested prescription drugs to U.S. consumers.
The board members of The Partnership for Safe Medicines praise the passage of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act” or the “SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, which includes the STOP Act. This legislation will have a positive impact on the fight to save lives and keep fentanyl out of the United States…
Two residents of Worland, Wyoming have been arrested and charged for selling counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl. A young woman suffered a non-fatal overdose as a result of those pills…
A long-term investigation in New York City into a drug ring ended with the arrest of three men. One of the men was a superintendent who allegedly allowed the residential building’s boiler room and a vacant apartment to be used to manufacture counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl and heroin…
A former Rice University football player has been charged with causing the death of a 21-year-old student after selling the young man counterfeit hydrocodone pills made with carfentanil. Carfentanil is one of fentanyl’s many analogues. A lethal dose is so small it cannot be seen with the human eye…
A year-long investigation in Ventura County started off small with a total of 600 counterfeit Roxicodone pills seized. Today, law enforcement has seized a total of $10.8 million worth of Sinaloa cartel drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, powdered fentanyl, and, of course, those fake pills all from one drug trafficking operation…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a guilty plea from Robert Simpson. The Gambrills, Maryland man admitted to having purchased 10,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl online and selling them. By the time that law enforcement searched his home, he had already sold almost 4,000 of the pills…
The Partnership for Safe Medicines applauds the passage of the SUPPORT Act, an $8 billion package which will help develop non-addictive painkillers, improve prescription drug monitoring programs, establish comprehensive opioid recovery centers, and strengthen Customs and Border Protection’s ability to intercept fentanyl that is illegally shipped into the United States.
In this October 16, 2018 for Drug Topics, Alliance of Safe Online Pharmacies advisor Libby Baney and pharmacist and American Pharmacists Association CEO Thomas Menighan discuss the risks to public safety posed by drug importation.
New Laws Of The Land Will Let Pharmacists Tell Their Customers How To Lower Their Prescription Costs
Two bills recently signed into federal law will help American citizens lower their prescription costs by banning the practice of pharmacy gag rules. S.2554 went into effect immediately and applies to anyone who purchases insurance on an exchange or gets their insurance through an employer. S.2553 will go into effect on January 1, 2020 and applies to anyone on Medicare…
A settlement has been agreed upon by a New York ophthalmologist and the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve civil charges that the doctor used non FDA-approved medications on his patients, but billed Medicare as if he was using FDA-approved drugs. The doctor will pay nearly $7 back to Medicare…
Fat Burners Zone is voluntarily recalling 1 lot of Zero Xtreme, capsules to the consumer level. FDA analysis has found Zero Xtreme to be tainted with sibutramine. Sibutramine is an appetite suppressant that was withdrawn from the U.S. market due to safety concerns.
A former doctor in Oregon received her sentence in federal court after she admitted to injecting patients with illegal foreign-sourced beauty treatments in her home. Brenda Roberts of Troutdale had previously surrendered her license to practice medicine, and a judge sentenced her to probation and community service…
A new study was just released that documented that permanent damage done to a 31-year-old man after he ingested a counterfeit medicine he purchased online. Even after more than a year since this happened to him, the structural changes to the man’s eyes mean that he sees everything with a red tint…
On September 18, 2017, ten-month-old Leo Holz put something he picked up off of his parents’ bed into his mouth. That something turned out to be a fake oxycodone pill made with fentanyl. He is perhaps the youngest known victim of the counterfeit fentanyl pill crisis…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a guilty plea from Ryan Farace of Maryland. In less than four years, he manufactured and sold over 920,000 counterfeit Xanax pills on various online marketplaces…
In this October 10, 2018 editorial for The Hill, publishing executive warns that America has nothing to gain and everything to lose if we forsake our secure drug supply chain for allowing the importation of dangerous drugs…
As the use of dermal fillers increases, so does the amount of people in the United States that are opting for cheap online deals. Sadly, 25% of the time, those deals leaving people dealing with complications such as a biofilm infection that can take months to completely go away…
A federal judge sentenced Fany Madrigal-Lopez to 12 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl. Even after she learned of one customer’s death in November 2016, she continued to sell those pills until law enforcement finally caught up with her in August 2017…
The Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control held a hearing on October 2, 2018 to discuss the flow of illicitly produced fentanyl out of China and into the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Discussions with panelists involved what is currently being done by major departments within our government to keep fentanyl out and what more could we be doing to help end this epidemic…
Lewis Chafin of Fayetteville, Arkansas pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of possession of a tableting or encapsulating machine with the intent to manufacture fentanyl. After receiving a tip, a search of Chafin’s home by law enforcement turned up 43 counterfeit oxycodone pills, various pharmaceutical powders – including fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine, zolpidem, and alprazolam – and a pill press…
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and their canines had a busy day in Arizona on September 18th. Officers at the Port of Nogales stopped two smuggling attempts, including one man with over a pound of fentanyl taped to his legs. At the Port of San Luis, a 16-year-old was stopped with over a quarter pound of suspected fake fentanyl pills taped to his legs…
At a checkpoint just a few miles from the southern border, Border Patrol agents flagged a 2008 Mini Cooper for an additional inspection. In a secret compartment underneath the driver’s seat, agents found nearly 52 pounds of fentanyl powder and three pounds of fake fentanyl pills…
This week the ABC News program 20/20 aired a story about counterfeit pills made with fentanyl. After highlighting Prince’s death from those pills, the reporters also interviewed Carrie Luther about her son Tosh Ackerman’s tragic accidental death from a piece of a Xanax made with fentanyl instead of the proper ingredients.
Justin O’Brien Miller indicted for controlled substance homicide in Washington state. He allegedly sold counterfeit Percocet pills made with fentanyl that killed 18-year-old Garrett Arendse and 28-year-old Rebecca Doyle…
U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against two men in Missouri for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. Law enforcement found two kilograms of fentanyl powder as well as two machines capable of making pills while executing search warrants at two apartments in St. Charles associated with the defendants…
Narcotics investigators in Oklahoma have announced a public warning about deadly counterfeit oxycodone made with fentanyl that has killed at least one Oklahoma resident.
A California woman has been indicted for shipping fake fentanyl pills and a misbranded drug into Illinois. In total, prosecutors alleged that Melissa Scanlan shipped over 50,000 counterfeit fentanyl pills to customers all over the United States. After initially being arrested on state charges in August, Scanlan allegedly went back to Mexico to arrange for more fake fentanyl pills to be delivered to her home. She was arrested for the second time in September in relation to the Illinois indictment…
DOJ indicted two Washington state men – Griffin Thompson and Bradley Woolard – after they were found in possession of thousands of fake oxycodone pills made with fentanyl. Agents found 3,000 of the pills when they searched Thompson’s vehicle and 10,000 of them when they searched Woolard’s house…
Doug Herbert, a retired Drug Enforcement Agent and volunteer with the Arizona Substance Abuse Coalition spoke with Arizona’s Fountain Hills Times about the “elephant in the room” that is counterfeit drugs in America.
Officials in Lake County, Ohio warned the public about counterfeit oxycodone pills being sold on the streets of northeastern part of the state have tested positive for both fentanyl and carfentanil. They said that any pill bought off the street could be a deadly fake and to only trust pills purchased at U.S. licensed pharmacies…
A trio of brothers in Indio, California have been charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl pills 20,000 fentanyl pills, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports in a press release September 14.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer received an injunction from the court against a couple who operated two stores that sold counterfeit and misbranded drugs. The injunction prohibits Iris Anabelle Gonzalez and Hugo Gonzalez Nava from engaging in the sale of pharmaceuticals. Police seized nearly 3,000 misbranded, illegal, and counterfeit pharmaceuticals products when two stores were searched in May…
In this September 17, 2018, editorial for The Detroit News, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest’s President and co-founder Peter Pitts warned that legalizing prescription drug importation will not generate massive savings for U.S. citizens while also potentially exposing millions of Americans to dangerous counterfeit drugs…
Two separate law enforcement investigations in Arizona have recently taken thousands of suspected counterfeit pills made with fentanyl off the street. One bust was made in a parking lot in Buckeye with additional pills seized later following the search of a house. The second bust took place in a mall parking lot in the middle of the day…
Choosing generic drugs is the easiest and fastest way for Americans to lower their prescription drug costs without having to risk purchasing your medication from a shady online pharmacy. We did a price comparison to see where azithromycin, the generic version of Zithromax, is more affordable – in the U.S. or in Canada. At a brick-and-mortar pharmacy in Canada, a six-dose supply would cost $17.08, but we found the same pills at pharmacies in the U.S. for $6.88…
The Spalding County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man and a woman in connection with the fentanyl pill deaths of two different men. Amanda Chambers faces involuntary manslaughter and fentanyl drug charges in the case, and Kevin Kennedy is facing a reckless conduct charge in the deaths of Dennis Wade and Jeffrey Scott Callahan.
A federal grand jury handed down an indictment against the man who was a source of counterfeit 30-milligram Roxicodone pills being sold in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Edward Culton supplied pills to a deal who would find buyers by advertising them on Instagram. One man died and a woman was poisoned after they took pills sold to them by that dealer…
In a brutal month spanning March 23 to April 23, 2016, fourteen people in the Sacramento area died of suspected drug overdoses, and 38 others were poisoned. At the beginning authorities had no idea why there was a sudden spike in overdose deaths and suspected “contaminated drugs.” They would not know until the month was out and the recovered pills had been analyzed that these deaths were caused by counterfeit pills made with deadly fentanyl. One of those who was lost was a 28-year-old father of three, Jerome Butler.
Second man indicted in the counterfeit fentanyl pill death of Jonathan Ellington in Colorado. Prosecutors believe that Bruce Holder was not just involved, but is the man who is responsible for smuggling the counterfeit oxycodone pills into the U.S. from Mexico. Ellington’s death may not be the only one caused by these fake fentanyl pills…
A newly formed task for on Long Island made their first arrest of a man who allegedly ran a drug ring that sold counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl. Between May and July, 2018, Ismail Latif sold a confidential source over 1,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills. The deals were made at one of several houses, one time inside a CVS pharmacy, and another time at a Mobile gas station…
Canada continues to battle its own fentanyl crisis. Nearly 4,000 Canadians lost their lives to opioids last year, with 68% of the deaths involving fentanyl. Counterfeit pills and fentanyl have been found in every province and territory…
In another example of why it is important to ask your pharmacist if paying cash might cost less than using your insurance with a prescription, a couple paid $285 for a 90-day supply of pills that they could have gotten for only $40 cash somewhere else…
U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, during a routine inspection, discovered 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of illicit fentanyl powder that had been hidden in a shipment of iron oxide from China. According to CBP, a narcotics detector dog alerted agents to the presence of the drugs inside barrels of iron oxide that had arrived at the facility in late June.
There are certainly things we can learn from other countries’ healthcare successes, but importation is not the right approach.
WSB-TV Atlanta shared a story about Federal agents in Roswell conducting an investigation into the distribution of fentanyl pills disguised as prescription medication. During their warranted search of a property in North Hall County, investigators discovered a cache of guns, a large amount of counterfeit “Xanax” pills, and raw materials for pill making more.
The trial of Aaron Shamo, the Utah man accused of running a major fentanyl pill manufacturing and distribution ring, has been pushed back until 2019. Almost two years ago, prosecutors were investigating 28 deaths potentially tied to this case, and now they have indicated they intend to file a superseding indictment which will include a “death-count” change…
This distressing situation shows that deadly fentanyl analogues are killing Americans who are using laced non-opioid prescriptions.
Richard Henry of Grand Junction, Colorado was arrested after law enforcement officers from multiple agencies found a pill press, hundreds each of fake Xanax and “small blue pills” made with fentanyl, and assortment of other powders in the closet of his apartment. This story is one of many recently in the news pointing to the fact that counterfeit fentanyl pills are a growing problem in western Colorado…
An Arizona grand jury has handed down indictments for the two men arrested in May. Prosecutors allege that Octavio Gutierrez-Hernandez and Jorge Bazan were trafficking more than 2,000 fentanyl pills pressed with an “M30” imprint, which is what is typically stamped on oxycodone pills.
In this August 21, 2018 editorial for the Havre Daily News Canada Border Services Agency and the Ontario Provincial Police veteran Don Bell talks about the need for Canada and the United States to work together to combat counterfeit drugs.
The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a 43-count indictment against Fujing Zheng and Guanghua Zheng of Shanghai, China for operating a company that illegally imported drugs – including fentanyl – into the U.S. When asked by undercover law enforcement if the Zhengs could manufacture counterfeit pills, including oxycodone, Adderall, and two cancer medicines – Tarceva and Afinitor – each time the Zhengs said they could…
On August 8, 2018, the National Sheriffs’ Association wrote the President to oppose prescription drug importation. Importing drugs from other countries, they say, “jeopardizes law enforcement’s ability to protect the public health and endangers the safety of law enforcement and other first responders.”
For the second time since May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced issuing warning letters to online network operations that were marketing illicit opioids to American citizens. In this most recent group, four companies operating a total of 21 websites were told they needed stop selling those pills. The number of websites to receive warnings this summer is over 70…
Deputies from the Walton County Georgia Sheriff’s Office disrupted four men attempting to move their counterfeit pill operation into their county. Austin Marshall, Jakob Sullins, Nicholas Felker, and Timothy Ballard were arrested before they even had the chance to unload their pill press that was capable of making 16,000 pills in one hour…
Carrie Luther, who lost her son to counterfeit Xanax made with fentanyl three years ago, travelled to Tennessee with Partnership for Safe Medicines Executive Director Shabbir Safdar to share her story with the Healthy Tennessee Opioid Summit.
MedicineSafe.org, a website launched by the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, is a new resource that Americans can use to educate themselves on prescription drug safety and the opioid crisis. On the website, you will find the Verify Before You Buy tool and learn how to safely store and dispose medicines along with many other important topics…
As a licensed pharmacist, I’m all too familiar with patients’ difficulties getting medications they need and their physician has prescribed. As baby boomers age, pharmacists see more patients at our counters unable to obtain needed treatments for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. This issue is now being acknowledged and a healthy debate has begun over possible solutions. But one idea policymakers shouldn’t pursue is opening up our country’s secure drug supply to medicines coming from outside our borders.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted three men in Utah for the death of Jaydon Rogers earlier this year. Adam Patrick Hemmelgarn, Tyler Jabbar Perry, and Christian Scott Jimerson allegedly sold the counterfeit fentanyl pill to Rogers who was found unresponsive and died two days later at the hospital…
Generic drug discount programs – available at a wide range of drugstores and pharmacies across the country – offer an array of commonly prescribed medications for only a few dollars a month. It doesn’t take long to learn which stores in your area have programs and you can be saving in no time by paying cash instead of using your insurance…
A Petaluma woman sits in jail awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to felony child-endangerment in the April death of her 16-year-old son. The teenager died as the result of ingesting a counterfeit Xanax pill containing fentanyl. His mother is facing up to 12 years in prison when sentenced. Her co-defendant in the case has been arraigned but has yet to face trial.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Protection work hard to keep counterfeit medicines and fentanyl pills out of the U.S., they do still get in. Fake pharmaceuticals and personal care products were the seventh most frequently seized item in fiscal year 2017, and the increase of illicit fentanyl is only mirrored by the increase in the number of deaths caused by synthetic opioids…
The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) announced at the event hosted by U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) that counterfeit pills made with illegally-imported fentanyl have now been found in 44 states and, with the recent death of an Idaho man, fatalities tied to counterfeit drugs have now occurred in 26 states.
Over the course of one week, the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, California saw a new record-breaking fentanyl pills seizure of almost 11,500 pills be beaten by an even newer record of over 20,000. Customs and Border Protection arrested and charged two U.S. citizens with trying to smuggle these pills into the country…
The U.S. DOJ indicted Christopher Huggett of Grand Junction, Colorado on one count of distributing fentanyl that resulted in death and one count of distributing fentanyl that resulted in serious bodily harm. Huggett allegedly sold counterfeit pain pills made with fentanyl. Emergency medical services were not able to revive Jonathan Ellington of Carbondale. The second victim is lucky to be alive…
The impact on Canada’s health care system could be devastating. In the aftermath of a previous American proposal, a 2010 study on the potential effects of exporting Canada’s drug supply to the US concluded that “if 10% of the US prescriptions were filled from Canadian sources (manufacturer, wholesale or retail), Canada’s 2007 drug supply would be exhausted in 224 days.”
A 2018 follow-up study reached similar conclusions. Such studies are all but ignored by US clinicians who urge importing drugs from Canada, and who are strangely oblivious to the fact that supplying an American patient could mean taking that same drug away from someone who needs it in Canada.
New details emerge about a counterfeit Xanax drug ring in North Carolina headed by three brothers. Indictments of two more members and additional locations that the ring used to produce fake Xanax pills using fentanyl. This ring was a major supplier to a high school in the area…
Quantum Solutions was sentenced for illegally importing wholesale quantities of misbranded prescription drugs into the U.S. and selling them to pharmacies. They ran 241 “Canadian pharmacy” websites, including Canada Drugs Center which Professor Kenneth McCall ordered three prescriptions from so that he could test what was in the pills. Two did not have enough active ingredient and one contained an unknown contaminant…