Posted 10/25/2007 6:41 AM (GMT -7)
Perhaps you saw the T.V. show Dateline some months back about counterfeit drugs from China, India and Mexico. Never did I dream that my family would encounter some of the counterfeit drugs.
In August of this year our daughter enrolled in a medical school and on her application she had to list any meds she was taking. She listed Midrin which she had a prescription for headaches. On the first day of school all students were given a drug test. A couple days later she was summons to the administrators office and informed she failed the drug test. Her urine sample had tested positive for Butalbital ( which is a barbituate-controlled substance). My wife and I had a meeting with the administrators and told them our daughter had not taken any meds other than the Midrin for headches. We were informed the school had a (0) tolerance policy and she would be removed from the school.
We immediately started pursuing every means possible to keep her in school. We consulted with our attorney for advice. Then we found a Labratory that agreed to test the Midrin Capsules to see what they contained. The lab report came back positive with a large quanity of Butalbital. We then contacted the pharmacy that filled the prescription and provided a copy of the lab report. In conversation with the chemist with the lab, he informed me that they encounter drugs daily that do not contain the proper ingredients. He stated many of the drugs are being made in China, India and Mexico and no one is checking to see what they contain.
Next we contacted the Drug Company that sold the meds to the pharmacy. We have spoken with the CEO on several occassions and he informed us they put the manufacture of the drug out to the lowest bidder and it was possible that the Midrin capsules came from some other country.
In further research, we found out through the FDA the number of adverse drug reactions to meds has increased 2.5 times in the past 8 years and the number of deaths due to adverse drug reactions has tripled in the past 8 years. Furthermore, we discovered there are 65 million prescriptions filled each year for drugs that have not been approved by the FDA. This information is ALARMING to say the least. The doctors do not know what drugs are approved, nor do the pharmacy that sells them. That is how laxed the controls are over prescription medications in our country today.
In closing, our daughter did remain in medical school as a result of our investigation into this matter, however many people would not have the resources to pursue the matter the way my wife and I did in this matter. It was embarassing to our daughter, stressful, expensive in getting the drug analyzed and she could have had her career destroyed due to this medication containing an ingredient that was not suppose to be in it.. I just urge everyone, if your meds are not working or you are seeing some side effects that are not normal, you may want to get it checked out. Twenty to thirty percent of prescriptions filled in the country today can be a counterfeit drug. And if you order through the internet, you stand a 50% chance of getting a counterfeit drug.
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