Counterfeit drugs continue to flood markets
The flood of counterfeit medicines now available in many countries could have fatal consequences for consumers, warns the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in its 2006 Annual Report released today. The INCB is an independent and quasi-judicial control organ, established by treaty, for monitoring the implementation of the international drug control treaties. The international drug control conventions require INCB to prepare each year an annual report of its activities. The INCB report focuses on a particular theme as a way of contributing to policy discussions and decisions on national, regional and international drug control.
The 2006 report, which focuses on unregulated markets, points out that although the phenomenon of the unregulated market is not a new one, it is of particular concern to the Board that in recent years, an increasing volume and variety of internationally controlled substances are available in the unregulated market. In addition, traffickers are turning to innovative ways of trafficking and diverting such substances, including the transnational distribution of counterfeit drugs and the use of the Internet and the postal and courier services for illicit drug trafficking.
The report highlights that many countries are being targeted by drug traffickers, as evidenced by the shipment of large consignments of illicit narcotics drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals to those countries. Larger seizures of cocaine and heroin suggest the existence of well-organized criminal syndicates that are moving drugs around the globe with impunity; the report is emphatic that those syndicates must be dismantled. The seizures also suggest that there is a need to improve the effectiveness of interdiction efforts and intelligence-sharing.
The report notes that apart from consumers who purchase pharmaceuticals containing controlled substances on the unregulated market because of limited access to health care facilities or lower prices, persons dependent on and abusing such medications make use of unregulated markets to obtain them without prescription. “Besides the fact that the existence of unregulated markets, the sale of diverted and counterfeit drugs and the purchase of drugs containing controlled substances without prescription contravenes international treaties on drug control, it is important for consumers to realize that what they think is a cut-price bought on an unregulated market may however have potentially lethal effects whenever the consumed drugs are not the genuine product or are taken without medical advice. Instead of healing, they can take lives”, observed Dr Philip O. Emafo, INCB President.
Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 25-50 per cent of medicines consumed in developing countries are believed to be counterfeit. The problem is further compounded by the fact that counterfeit drugs are easy to manufacture. Unknowing clients have experienced serious health or even lethal consequences. For instance, in Africa, the use of counterfeit vaccines in 1995 resulted in 2,500 deaths. Whereas narcotics and other internationally controlled drugs are easily available in street markets, in the developed countries, they are sold via illegal Internet pharmacies, without the mandatory prescriptions.
According to the report, a particularly worrisome development in Africa is the large-scale trafficking of cocaine. Both the number of couriers apprehended and the volume of bulk seizures in Africa have increased significantly. Taking advantage of the weak interdiction capacities in Africa, drug trafficking networks are using the region as a transit area for smuggling cocaine from South America through Western, Central and Southern Africa. In addition, heroin from West and South-East Asia is smuggled through eastern Africa, to be shipped to illicit markets in Europe, and to a lesser extent, North America.
The report notes that cultivation and production of cannabis, which remains the major drug of abuse in Africa, is on the rise, despite a marked reduction in cannabis production in Morocco, the world’s largest producer of cannabis resin, and despite intensive eradication efforts undertaken by the authorities.
The report also warns that the trend of abuse of anorectics for slimming is rising, and can have fatal consequences for consumers. “Last year, the world witnessed the tragic death of a Brazilian super-model, who collapsed due to anorexia. Anorectics, which are meant to be prescribed and monitored by doctors, also have a use in the treatment of life-threatening obesity or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). However, they are instead being used indiscriminately to feed the slimming obsession that affects some societies”, said Dr Emafo.
The report recommends that member states should enforce existing legislation to ensure that narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are not illegally manufactured, imported or exported and are not diverted to the unregulated market. Member states also need to take appropriate measures to increase the availability of drugs through legitimate channels, particularly in areas where there is little or no access.
In compliance with article 15 of the 1971 Convention, member states need to conduct inspection of manufacturers, exporters, importers, wholesale and retail distributors, as well as of stocks and records, and to take appropriate action against those who fail to comply with applicable legal requirements and professional codes of conduct.
In Kenya, the report was launched at the Grand Regency Hotel, Nairobi, Speaking during the occasion, Health Assistant Minister Dr Wilfred Machage noted that drug trafficking was having a devastating impact on the health, security, education and general well-being of the nation. He regretted that Kenya was emerging to be a major route for cocaine, heroin and cannabis sativa due to its geographical location and porous borders that serve as entry points. Also present at the launch were the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Representative, Carsten Hyttel, Regina Mbindyo of Essential Drugs management, WHO Kenya Country Office, Gideon Kimilu of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters and Joseph Kaguthi, the co-ordinator of the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA).