2019 NABP Report Finds Fentanyl-Laced Fake Opioids for Sale Everywhere on the Internet

In their latest report on fake online pharmacies that ply their trade in the United States, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) found more than 1,500 new websites that it considers “Not Recommended,” and of these, 31% are offering illicit prescription drugs, such as codeine, fentanyl, oxycodone, Adderall, Valium, and Xanax.  99% of…

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Canadian Doctors, Pharmacists, Patient Groups and Government Representatives Consider State Importation Proposals Unfeasible

In spite of recent efforts by legislators in Florida, Maine, Colorado, and elsewhere, Canadian patient groups are vocally opposing pending legislation that proposes importing prescription medications from the Canadian drug supply. Paul Blanchard of the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association told CBC News, “The country’s pharmacists association has been talking to the federal government … to make sure that the federal government and Canada is aware that the Americans are literally knocking on our door.”

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New Report Highlights Continued Illicit Online Prescription Drugs Sales In China

ASOP Global and LegitScript released a report analyzing the prevalence of illicit online sales of prescription drugs in China, a country where such sales are prohibited. Their analysis showed that about half of all Chinese online pharmaceuticals sellers are illicit, potentially exposing patients to counterfeit medicines, substandard medicines, financial fraud, and identity theft…

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A Texas Athlete’s Life Cut Short by Trust

Blain Padgett earned a full athletic scholarship and a defensive end position with the Rice University Owls in 2015 through persistence, vision and sheer hard work, but his dream of playing college football was cut short on March 2, 2018, when he was found dead in his apartment. Investigation showed that Blain’s cause of death was fentanyl poisoning: the hydrocodone pill he’d taken from a friend for his shoulder pain turned out to be a counterfeit laced with carfentanil.

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How do you test whether a medication is legitimate?

Infographic showing how medication is tested.

Testing medicine for legitimacy is a complicated process. Across 24 different prescription medicines, the average cost to test a single dose is $2,750. However, ensuring that a batch of 100 pills is safe requires testing at least 22 pills. To learn more about this topic, read PSM’s summary: safedr.ug/Acri-Explained.

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Loving South Carolina Father Poisoned by Counterfeit Anxiety Medicine

Eric Highsmith Griffin of Lexington, South Carolina died of fentanyl poisoning on May 10, 2016 after taking a Xanax for anxiety. He had no way of knowing that the medicine he had purchased from a friend of a friend was not just like the medicine he’d been prescribed. He would never have risked his life or caused suffering to his children and family if he had known that a non-opioid anti-anxiety medication could really be a counterfeit poison pill.

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Multiple California Counties Warn Parents About Deadly Fake Pills After the Deaths of Two Teens in Santa Clara County

On September 30th, the Public Health Department of Santa Clara County, California updated a public health warning they had issued September 10th about deadly counterfeit 30mg oxycodone pills. The initial warning described “tablets visually appear to be the pharmaceutically manufactured version—they are circular in shape, light blue to light green in color, and have an ‘M’ inside a square stamped on one side and a ‘30’ stamped on the other side. Numerous fatal overdoses have been tied to these tablets, with a strong uptick in fatal overdoses in August 2019.”

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