FAKE DRUG MARKET

Fake Drug Market



Fake Drug Market

Drugs

It is generally considered drug "means any substance which, when introduced into a living organism may modify one or more of its functions". Officially, a drug is "any substance, natural or synthetic, included in a list attached to an international agreement and subject to regulation.

The Drug Market

With an estimated turnover of between 300 and 500 billion dollars, drug trafficking has become the second largest economy in the world, just behind the arms, but before the oil. The benefits are of the order of 200 billion dollars and laundering dirty money of 150 billion. The benefits and the amounts involved are huge. Indeed, profits large and small traffickers are immense. Drugs remains a prohibited goods, its trade is extremely lucrative: the drug market is currently experiencing the fastest growth. The drug trade is closely linked to poverty, inequality and conflict. Nearly 80% of the cocaine and about 90% of the marijuana entering the United States come from Latin America. Produced in the Andean region (Bolivia, Colombia, Peru), the "merchandise" passes through the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico, hubs for international mafias allied with Colombian cartels, who make the law in the region (Wilson, 2010, 113). After Central America, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the extension of clashes and nationalist ethnic groups, particularly in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia, has opened new perspectives.

Drug Counterfeit Market

Millions of drug consignments pass through US customs every year to millions of individual consumers and 6,500 wholesalers and distributors - policing these postal distribution channels are problematic due to the fact that not all packages can physically be checked for counterfeits, as with other developed countries. The PSI reported recently that approximately 8% of all incidents of counterfeiting, illegal diversion or theft of pharmaceuticals in 2008 occurred in North America, which is 50% less than in Europe; and that approximately 18% of incidents were recorded in Latin America according to the organization's data (Wilson, 2010, 113).

Compared with the US, Canada's reporting of counterfeit detections is not as transparent, but in August 2009, the national Canadian police infiltrated a major network that was producing and distributing counterfeit drugs. Over 15,000 pills for male erectile dysfunction were seized, and which resembled Pfizer's Viagra in shape, size, and color. The pills were sold over the Internet and in Montreal sex shops according to the police. The seizures led to arrests and convictions for fraud, trademark counterfeiting, and distribution of copyrighted material.

As Canada is now a major access route to the US for both legitimate and counterfeit drugs, it is surprising that not more evidence of drug counterfeiting is forthcoming, particularly as the US border controls have detected counterfeits transiting through Canada. One possible reason for this is a deficit in surveillance and border control checking compared with the US; however, this also suggests that counterfeiting into Canada is much higher than current estimates. Furthermore, the US Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest (CMPI) reports that most large Canadian Internet pharmacies purchase ...