Former FBI Director Louis Freeh Updates His 2017 Report on the Threat of Congressional Drug Importation Proposals

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh has released an addendum to his 2017 Report on the Potential Impact of Drug Importation Proposals on U.S. Law Enforcement, concluding:

…the government has not done enough to evaluate and improve the capacity of law enforcement to deal with a new pipeline of drugs into the U.S. drug supply, all while . . . more illegal drugs are being shipped to the United States. Passing any drug importation scheme would erase the little progress we have made and set law enforcement further back on their heels.

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Bastiaan J Venhuis, Angela E Oostlander, Domenico Di Giorgio, Ruth Mosimann, Ines du Plessis. Oncology Drugs In The Crosshairs Of Pharmaceutical Crime. The Lancet. 2013;19:e209-15.

Oncology drugs clearly have become a target for pharmaceutical crime. In 2016, falsified oncology drugs ranked fifth in the most commonly falsified drug category among the reports received by the Pharmaceutical Security Institute. Although the prevalence of illicit oncology drugs in the legal supply chains appears to be small, these drugs are difficult to detect,…

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New Report Shows Widespread and Deadly Impact of Illegally-Imported Fentanyl

A new report released April 10, 2018 by The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) illustrates the growing deadly toll that illegally-imported fentanyl is having on communities throughout the U.S. PSM’s analysis confirms reports of counterfeit medicines made with fentanyl in 43 states, with fentanyl-related deaths confirmed in 22 states. The updated findings follow a report released by PSM last September that found a presence of counterfeit fentanyl in 40 states and related deaths in 16 states.

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Guerra C, Mackey TK. “USA criminal and civil prosecutions associated with illicit online pharmacies: legal analysis and global implications.” Med Access @ Point Care 2017; 1(1): e104-e118.

  ABSTRACT The rise of digital technologies has created a complex online environment that now includes illicit Internet pharmacies, online facilitators, advertising sites, and foreign entities. Collectively, these networks create significant patient safety risks, including acting as unregulated access points encouraging prescription drug use. Although law enforcement is active in combatting this form of cybercrime,…

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New Report Shows Widespread and Deadly Impact of Illegally-Imported Fentanyl (April 2018 Update)

A new report released April 10, 2018 by The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) illustrates the growing deadly toll that illegally-imported fentanyl is having on communities throughout the U.S. PSM’s analysis confirms reports of counterfeit medicines made with fentanyl in 43 states, with fentanyl-related deaths confirmed in 22 states. The updated findings follow a report released by PSM last September that found a presence of counterfeit fentanyl in 40 states and related deaths in 16 states.

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