The Need To Support Death Sentence For  Fake Drug Dealers

By

Hassan Zaggi

hassanzagi@yahoo.com

 

 

Recently, in a World Press Conference in Abuja, the Director –General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Dr. Paul Orhii, revealed that a proposed bill on fake drug dealers is on the offing and would soon be presented to the National Assembly for debate. It is hoped the assembly will pass the bill and a presidential assent.

 

According to the NAFDAC DG, “in the proposed new law, we will strongly advocate death penalty or life time jail term for manufacturers and distributors of fake drugs, especially in situation where it is determined that such medicines proximately caused death or severe bodily injury. We will also seek to provide in the new law, a cause of action for victims of counterfeit drugs and actively encourage and assist victims gather evidence to enable them successfully sue manufacturers and distributors of these deadly products  for adequate compensation and punitive damages to serve as deterrent to others.”

 

This is really a cheering news to Nigerians, considering the great damage fake drugs cause to human life. Fake drugs sellers can be best described as cruel murderers, in fact worst than arm robbers, because arm robbers will forcefully collect what you have and in some cases allow you to go. This is unlike the case of fake drug sellers to whom one goes to purchase what one think will cure him of his ailment but end up being killed or damaged for life.

 

In fact those who manufacture and distribute fake drugs have no respect for life, considering that no man can give life, hence they should be killed when apprehended, because he who takes life in  whatsoever guise have no reason to live.

 

It would be recalled that on June 1, 2009, the DG of NAFDAC announced a landmark seizure of a container load of fake anti-malaria drugs (maloxine and Amalar) at Apapa Port in Lagos, which was fraudulently declared as containing cellotape. According to Dr. Orhii, physical inspection of the content of the container revealed that it contains 960 cartons of fake maloxine and 196 cartons of counterfeit Amalar tablets, all valued at N32.1 million. But for the quick intervention of NAFDAC staff who discovered and intercepted these fake malaria drugs, only God knows the number of innocent Nigerians who would have lost their lives if the drugs were allowed to enter the Nigerian markets. Apart from killing people immediately, these fake malaria drugs could have caused strong resistance to malaria parasite, making patients who take these fake drugs resistant to any kind of malaria treatment and thus increasing the cost of treatment to both affected persons and the government.

 

Again, on Monday August 21, 2009, NAFDAC regulatory officers on routine surveillance along Dutse-Kano-Maiduguri road in Jigawa state intercepted a truck load containing 5,000 cartons of unregistered intravenous Drip in 500ml pack. The 5,000 cartons of the intravenous drugs product according to the NAFDAC DG, were valued at N24 million, which he said were labeled in French language without NAFDAC registration number. This is just to mention a few among the many seizure of fake and substandard products by NAFDAC  in recent times.

 

Can you imagine what will happen to a patient who is critically ill in a hospital bed and the doctor, after putting every effort to save the life of the patient end up administering fake drip on him? Of course, the patient may either die instantly or if he is lucky, the sickness will get worse, leaving him or her in excruciating pains. Another angle to it is that the doctor in question may be blamed unfairly for not taking proper care of the patient, even though it was the fake drug which the doctor unknowingly administered to the patient that was the cause of the death or his worsen condition.

 

In fact, this callous attitude exhibited by manufacturers and distributors of fake drugs deserve no sympathy, hence their action should attract stiff penalty such as the death sentence advocated by the NAFDAC. This is clearly to underscore the fact that these ‘devilish’ dealers on fake drugs place more value on the money they  make out of fake drugs than the lives of Nigerians, if caught deserve the penalty of death.

 

There is therefore the need for Nigerians, especially our representatives at both the Senate and the House of Representatives to stand up and support the proposed bill and give it all the necessary and urgent attention it deserves, in view of the fact it is the people they represent that are at the receiving end of the nefarious activities of the fake drug manufacturers and dealers. This is the time for members of the National Assembly to demonstrate how much they represent, care and  have the interest of the  their people at heart.

 

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the Nigeria Labour Congress, student union bodies and in fact, all Nigerians should openly voice their support for this proposed bill, so that the National Assembly on receiving it can expedite action, pass it so as to put a stop to the deadly activities of these fake drugs dealers who take pleasure in making money at the expense of the lives of their fellow Nigerians. This bill if properly implemented and enforced will reduce the avoidable deaths through fake drugs.

 

The recent action taken by the Indian parliament by enacting a law imposing a life sentence on any body arrested and convicted for the manufacture and distribution of spurious pharmaceutical products, and the collaboration between NAFDAC, US, China and India to form a coalition against counterfeit drugs is really a welcome news. This is because anyone who attempts to manufacture or distribute fake drugs from these countries, especially India will know that he or she is doing so at the risk of his life.

 

This coalition is also a welcome development because most of the drugs and pharmaceutical raw materials consumed in Nigeria come from these countries and if they can be controlled, it means that the work of NAFDAC have been reduced by about 60 per cent. The agency can now focus and fish out the bad eggs in Nigeria and subsequently prosecute them accordingly.

 

The NAFDAC DG said that Chinese authorities recently arrested six of their own citizens for manufacturing and exporting fake drugs into Nigeria, and that the Nigerian collaborator who ran into hidings was also recently arrested and is now in their custody. He said that the suspect will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

 

But the constraint NAFDAC is having is that the current penalty against fake drugs peddlers in Nigeria is not stiff enough. It is laughable to note that a suspect, if convicted have an option of paying N500,000 to get himself out of detention. Stiff penalty should be in place if the war against fake drugs is to be worn.

 

There is also the need for Nigerians to encourage and support NAFDAC with useful information on fake and substandard drugs manufacturers, so that the agency can achieve zero tolerance on fake drugs, as the DG of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii has  promised.

 

In fact even life imprisonment should not be an option, because convicted fake drug dealers could possibly one day regain freedom and resume their nefarious trade. They too should be made to go to their untimely graves since their lives are not superior to those they have killed, or permanently disabled.

 

This is the major reason why Nigerians should collectively support the death penalty for fake drug sellers. It is not right that the current law allows fake drug sellers to kill many innocent Nigerians and if caught and convicted are just asked to pay a fine of  five hundred thousand naira, a sum so small compared with the hundreds of millions he made peddling those dangerous fake drugs.

 

The clarion call to all Nigerians is that we must all rise up to this important challenge of fighting fake drugs by giving support to the proposed bill when it is taken to the National Assembly, so that Nigeria can be free from the menace of fake drugs.