Policy and Law Enforcement News
New Jersey Legislature Works to Increase Penalties for Drug Counterfeiters
In June, the New Jersey Assembly passed A-5037, a bill that increases penalties for those who create, distribute or administer counterfeit, adulterated or misbranded medical drugs and devices. The legislation, which has been sent to the New Jersey Senate’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, would make the sale of more than 100 units of fake medicine punishable by a sentence of five to ten years, a fine of up to $150,000, or both.
[...]New York District Attorney Indicts Major Online Drug Fake Xanax and Illicit Drug Seller
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced the largest counterfeit pill seizure in New Jersey history this month. In addition to large quantities of other illicit drugs, between 420,000 and 620,000 counterfeit Xanax were discovered during the arrest and search of Chester Anderson, Jarrette Codd, and Ronald MacCarty for their alleged role in selling $2.3 million worth of illicit drugs via the internet.
[...]Senators Cassidy, Hassan, Kustoff and Kuster Reintroduce Pill Press Legislation, The STEER Act
The proposed legislation, H.R. 6554, will require that anyone who owns, purchases or imports pill press must be registered them with the U.S. Attorney General.
[...]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.
[...]Major Cases From U.S. FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations In Fiscal Year 2018
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…
[...]Drug Importation is Fraught with Peril
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.
[...]Over Half of U.S. States Have Now Seen Fatalities from Counterfeit Drugs Made with Fentanyl
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.
[...]Proposed Changes to WHOIS system privacy will help hide internet criminals, NABP director warns
In this August 1, 2018 editorial for Inside Sources, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Director Carmen Catizone raises the alarm about ICANN’s proposed changes to the WHOIS system, a database that identifies the owners of web domains. These changes are meant to bring WHOIS in compliance with new European privacy laws but, he warns, they would also impede law enforcement and others’ efforts to “connect the dots and link up different websites run as part of large criminal enterprises” like drug counterfeiting rings.
[...]DEA Teaches Officers In Tampa How To Safely Process A Fentanyl-Contaminated Crime Scene
The U.S. DEA held a first-of-its-kind training session in Tampa, Florida to teach local law enforcement officers the proper techniques and steps to safely process a crime scene when fentanyl is present. An officer said that additional training sessions will be held in the future…
[...]Mothers of Counterfeit Drug Victims Join Law Enforcement, Pharmacy Experts to Raise Alarm Over Lethal Fentanyl Imports
Partnership for Safe Medicines Announces Creation of Fentanyl Council to Spotlight Impact on U.S. Law Enforcement, Explore Proliferation of Pill Presses
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