People buy these medicines because they are cheaper, people can have access to them without a prescription and can self-medicate. These are some of the reasons that drive people to fall into a trap where the biggest victim is health.
Costa Ricans are exposed to irreversible damage due to the conditions of the medicines circulating in the market, since, in most cases, it is impossible to recognize an altered medicine from an original product,
explained Gustavo Saenz, dean of Pharmacy school from the UCIMED.
However, if people continue to buy illicit drugs, medicine trafficking will continue to exist , which moves millions of dollars every day.
In Costa Rica and the world, people are looking for diet pills and nutritional products, antimalarials, cholesterol and erectile dysfunction pills.
So far this year, the Tax Police of Costa Rica seized 30 thousand irregular medicines, but there is a silent market that leaks medicines across the borders.
Those involved in the black market have such expertise that are able to duplicate all characteristics from the medicines, to the point that to distinguish one from another. chemical analysis is required.
As a result, Guillermo Varela, from GS Uno Costa Rica, assures that mechanisms to control drug are needed because the country does not have a legal figure to punish criminals who counterfeit medicines, there are only commercial punishments.