African Official Accuses City of Licensing Peddlers Who Might Sell Counterfeit Drugs

Municipal authorities in Sierra Leone are being accused of issuing licenses to drug peddlers who may deal in counterfeit drugs.

The Freetown City Council is allegedly licensing the medication vendors who walk the streets of the area, according to Awoko, a Sierra Leone newspaper.

The accusations were made at summit held by the Anti Corruption Commission for the purpose of discussing how to deal with the barriers that restrict the effective movement of commodities. At the summit Registrar of the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone, Wilshire Johnson, said that the Freetown City Council was issuing licenses to drug vendors who have little experience in the pharmaceutical trade, reports the news source. In addition, Johnson claimed that many of these peddlers were illiterate.

Johnson also warned of the dangers of taking prescription drugs without consulting a true health professional.

“Drugs are very important in life-saving situations and at the same time very detrimental to health if they are wrongly administered,” he said, according to the news source. “Therefore, considering the fact that City Council does not know the technical details of drugs and the manner in which they are handled, they should be consulting with us.”