News Archives
Since 2002, the Partnership for Safe Medicines has been publishing information about the counterfeit drug problem around the world. With experts leading the organization and a committed and passionate set of writers and editors, our content is more in-depth than many other sources, which simply copy links to the news from other websites.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Protection work hard to keep counterfeit medicines and fentanyl pills out of the U.S., they do still get in. Fake pharmaceuticals and personal care products were the seventh most frequently seized item in fiscal year 2017, and the increase of illicit fentanyl is only mirrored by the increase in the number of deaths caused by synthetic opioids…
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.
Over the course of one week, the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego, California saw a new record-breaking fentanyl pills seizure of almost 11,500 pills be beaten by an even newer record of over 20,000. Customs and Border Protection arrested and charged two U.S. citizens with trying to smuggle these pills into the country…
The U.S. DOJ indicted Christopher Huggett of Grand Junction, Colorado on one count of distributing fentanyl that resulted in death and one count of distributing fentanyl that resulted in serious bodily harm. Huggett allegedly sold counterfeit pain pills made with fentanyl. Emergency medical services were not able to revive Jonathan Ellington of Carbondale. The second victim is lucky to be alive…
The impact on Canada’s health care system could be devastating. In the aftermath of a previous American proposal, a 2010 study on the potential effects of exporting Canada’s drug supply to the US concluded that “if 10% of the US prescriptions were filled from Canadian sources (manufacturer, wholesale or retail), Canada’s 2007 drug supply would be exhausted in 224 days.”
A 2018 follow-up study reached similar conclusions. Such studies are all but ignored by US clinicians who urge importing drugs from Canada, and who are strangely oblivious to the fact that supplying an American patient could mean taking that same drug away from someone who needs it in Canada.
New details emerge about a counterfeit Xanax drug ring in North Carolina headed by three brothers. Indictments of two more members and additional locations that the ring used to produce fake Xanax pills using fentanyl. This ring was a major supplier to a high school in the area…
Quantum Solutions was sentenced for illegally importing wholesale quantities of misbranded prescription drugs into the U.S. and selling them to pharmacies. They ran 241 “Canadian pharmacy” websites, including Canada Drugs Center which Professor Kenneth McCall ordered three prescriptions from so that he could test what was in the pills. Two did not have enough active ingredient and one contained an unknown contaminant…
A new documentary called “Killer Curves: Bodies to Die For” showed how dangerous, and even deadly, it can be to get silicone butt injections. Sidney Star, K. Michelle, Apryl Michelle Brown, and Anivia Cruz all spoke about their regrets and the damage those shots did to their bodies…
Law enforcement in Arizona has seen the amount of seized fentanyl powder increase by 2,000 and the number of fentanyl pills increase by 3,000 in just one year. Despite the increased seizures, the number of lives lost in that state to opioid overdoses also continues to rise. With fake pills being reported across the state – in Kingman, Phoenix, and Tucson, no pill bought on the street can be considered safe…
The year-long Operation Dark Gold operation netted charges against 35 individuals selling drugs online. Included in this list are five people from New York – Jian Qu, Raymond Weng, Kai Wu, Dimitri Tseperkas, and Chiad Akkaya- who sold multiple types of drugs and were found in possession of four pill presses and over 12 kilos of suspected counterfeit Xanax pills…