Following the unbridled distribution of fake and counterfeit drugs in the country, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has reiterated her call for harsher punishments for peddlers of fake and counterfeit drugs, including life imprisonment and death penalty for convicted counterfeit drug dealers. Adeyeye, who reaffirmed her stance in the wake of recent raids on open drug markets across the country, argued that the current penalties for fake drug peddling were too lenient, hence the proposal for death penalty.
The NAFDAC boss also pointed out that death penalty would deter others from dealing in fake and counterfeit drugs. Apart from the fact that fake and counterfeit drugs kill people, fake drug dealers also violate NAFDAC laws, which can attract a term of five years in jail or a fine of N250,000. These penalties are not deterrent enough. This is probably why the NAFDAC DG has called for stiffer sanctions against the peddlers of fake and counterfeit drugs. Prof. Adeyeye believes that the death penalty will go a long way in curbing the distribution of fake and counterfeit drugs, which pose grave threat to public health. The menace also dents the image of the country.
The recent seizure of fake and expired drugs worth N1 trillion underscores the enormity of the problem of fake drugs in the country. During the raid of open drug markets in Aba, Onitsha and Lagos, NAFDAC seized 87 truckloads of banned, expired, and substandard medical products, including USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral drugs, male and female condoms.
Beyond the call for life imprisonment and death penalty for convicted peddlers of fake and counterfeit drugs, NFDAC should muster the political will to urgently dismantle the chaotic open drug markets in Ariaria, Aba in Abia State, Bridge Head drug market, Onitsha, Anambra State and Idumota, Lagos State. These markets and others in Ibadan, Kano and other places are the channels of distribution of fake and counterfeit drugs across the country and even other neighbouring West African countries. Without dismantling the open drug markets, the menace of fake and counterfeit drugs will continue to flourish unabated. The raided three markets account for 80 per cent of the drugs sold in the country.
The raids equally exposed the antics of drug dealers who imitated some popular drugs and packaged them into containers of the original manufacturers in order to deceive unsuspecting members of the public. Before the latest raids, NAFDAC had severally confiscated lorry loads of fake and substandard products in various parts of the country, burning and destroying them to forestall their being pushed back into the markets. Despite the spirited efforts by the agency, fake drugs, foods and consumables are still sold in the markets in the country.
While we commend NAFDAC for its relentless effort to rid the country of fake and counterfeit drugs, we urge it to block the foreign sources of these fake drugs, which come mainly from India, China and Pakistan. Without stopping the importation of the fake drugs from their foreign sources, the illegal business will continue to thrive. NAFDAC should sensitize the public on the dangers of fake and counterfeit drugs. The citizens should buy their drugs from registered pharmaceutical premises. Fake and counterfeit drugs are hazardous to health and account for the rising incidences of organ failure and corresponding deaths.
The current penalty of five years imprisonment or a fine N250,000 cannot deter people from engaging in the fake drug business. Though death penalty is becoming out of fashion in many parts of the world, drug peddlers should not be allowed to have their way. Stiffer punishments should be applied to dissuade the peddlers from the illicit trade.
The fight against fake drugs cannot be fought and won by NAFDAC alone. Other agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Police and Department of State Services (DSS) must be involved in ridding the country of counterfeit drugs. The National Assembly should strengthen the laws against the distribution and sale of fake and counterfeit drugs in the country. Nigerians should also see it as a civic duty to report activities of suspected or confirmed drug peddlers in their midst. Those involved in the evil business should desist from it.