Dangers of counterfeit medicines

Counterfeit medicines are drugs which are intentionally falsely labelled and mis-sold as the original treatments. Counterfeiting medicines is a problem which is widespread and affects both branded and generic products eroding consumer confidence in medicines concerned. All types of medicines are copied illegally including the famous blue pill Viagra, expensive AIDS treatments, anti-malarial medicines (in particular Malarone) and popular weight loss pills like Xenical Orlistat and Alli the OTC equivalent.

Counterfeit pills are dangerous; they can contain any number of substances including incorrect ingredients, inactive ingredients, and the wrong doses of the correct ingredients. This can cause users to overdose or ingest potentially lethal mixes. In fact people who produce counterfeit medicines worry little about the life-threatening issues faced by those who buy and take their drugs, often mixing cheap ingredients like painkillers, rat poison, toxic cleaning agents and arsenic into their illegal concoctions.

Many fake medicines look very similar to the real thing and everything from the packaging, manufacturer’s leaflet, hologram stickers and the tablets themselves appear to be identical copies. Such is the sophistication of these operations that often customs officials and experts are initially fooled when inspecting with the naked eye and it is only once a full laboratory test has been carried out that the medications are proved to be false.

If you purchase medicines online you should never underestimate the importance of knowing where your treatments are coming from. The counterfeit industry is not regulated and the source of your drugs is always unknown making them completely unreliable. It is illegal to sell counterfeit drugs and buying them can also land you on the wrong side of the law. Fake treatments can contain any number of things and taking them can result in death. Dealing with the problem is a public health issue, but the individual should also be very mindful or the risks they put themselves at when they buy fake medicines online.

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