Another Wrist Slap

Some more news of enforcement against dealers of counterfeit drugs. Here, British authorities got convictions against Mr. Shabbir Hussain and Mr Mohammed Yasser Zaidi and seized just under half a million British pounds worth of counterfeit drugs.

Again, that the authorities are devoting resources to enforcement of anti-counterfeit drug laws is good news. The publicity brings attention to the problem. Unfortunately, the attention also allows the public to weigh costs and benefits of the criminal activity, and such weighing is obviously not good. Mr. Hussain did receive a four year sentence, while his co-conspirator Mr Mohammed Yasser Zaidi received a suspended sentence plus community service.

Let's take a look at drug laws in the United Kingdom.

Penalties for possession and dealing

		Possession:	Dealing:
Class A	Ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, amphetamines (if prepared for injection).	Up to seven years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.	Up to life in prison or an unlimited fine or both.
Class B	Amphetamines, Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Pholcodine.	Up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.	Up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.
Class C	Cannabis, tranquilisers, some painkillers, Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), Ketamine.	Up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.	Up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.

Contrast these laws in the UK for dealing narcotics with the penalties imposed against Mr. Hussain, who operated his business dealing counterfeit drugs. Four years can be a long time, particularly for someone of his age, 55. However, the penalties for counterfeit drug distribution pale in comparison with penalties for Class A and Class B drug distribution.

These laws need to be updated.

Considering that consumers who take counterfeit drugs are most often doing so without knowledge that the drugs taken could be counterfeit or dangerous, one could make a case that the pusher of counterfeit drugs needs to be punished as much as the pusher of narcotics, whose victims are at least informed about the risks they take (albeit, often influenced by addiction).

Quoting Mick Deats, Group Manager of Enforcement at the MHRA, MedicalNewsToday said,

"Counterfeit medicines are dangerous, these medicines would have found their way into high street pharmacies and onto the internet. Counterfeit medicines contain impurities, wrong ingredients and are not manufactured to the exacting standards required to safeguard public health. This is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions which should serve as a clear message to those contemplating involvement in this serious criminal activity that the MHRA is determined to take the strongest possible action against any person involved in the sale and supply of counterfeit medicines."

Mr. Deats is correct. The problem is, publicizing light punishment for lucrative enterprises could well do more harm than good.