The rise of social media and greater internet access through smartphones are factors behind a huge rise in illicit sales of pharmaceuticals, according to the chief enforcement official at Britain’s medicines regulator.
Criminal gangs have become adept at using social media to sell “lifestyle” drugs to a mass market at minimal risk and cost, said Alastair Jeffrey, head of enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency(MHRA). This year, he said the MHRA had seized 1.2m doses of illegally supplied erectile dysfunction drugs, 383,000 slimming products and 331,000 doses of sleeping pills, tranquillisers and antidepressants – mostly originating from China and India. For the first time, the MHRA pursued YouTube accounts and removed 18,671 videos that directed viewers to websites offering illicit drugs.
