| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2008 
Federal Agents Crack Down on Illegally Sold Medications
 Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | Federal police officers stand on guard in front of a pharmacy in Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008. Federal inspectors have raided 15 pharmacies in downtown Tijuana in a search for counterfeit drugs and illegal sales practices in stores known for offering U.S. tourists easy access to discount drugs. (AP/Guillermo Arias) | | |
Tijuana About 250 federal agents occupied a four-block area of the Avenida Revolucion tourist district for several hours Tuesday searching for drugs: neither cocaine, nor heroin nor marijuana, but medications being sold illegally.
The agents were checking Tijuana pharmacies for falsely labeled medications and controlled substances being sold without prescriptions. They were also on the lookout for pharmacies violating laws that prohibit the sale of medical samples and the sale of medications by the pill rather than in packages
The pharmacies' customers are typically Americans: They come here to get medications that they cannot get in the United States without a prescription, said a spokesman for the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risk, who would not give his name for security reasons.
Pharmacies have multiplied in the Avenida Revolucion area during the past decade to serve a U.S. clientele searching for lower-priced medications. In most cases, the transactions are legal. But some U.S. buyers risk lengthy prison sentences by purchasing Valium and other controlled substances without prescriptions from Mexican physicians, as required by Mexican law.
The spokesman said several Mexican federal agencies were participating in the operation, including the Federal Preventive Police, and the Mexican Institute for the Protection of Industrial Property.
The operation began at 11 a.m., in the area of Avenida Revolucion and Second and Third streets. By mid-afternoon, no arrests nor seizures were reported, but Mexico's federal health secretariat was expected to report the results by Wednesday.
They just asked us if our papers were in order, and they were, said Jorge Sanchez, manager of Farmacia Jardn on Second Street.
Some tourists said they were unnerved by the heavy police presence, but Maurice Tucker, 26, a San Diego resident, said it didn't affect him.
As long as I'm not going to do anything wrong, I'm going to be fine, he said, as he headed with two Australian friends into Club Animale, where the music was pounding and the drinks were flowing.
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble(at)uniontrib.com |
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