Over-the-counter, but still illegal
Idaho Board of Pharmacy director says Rupert store’s sale of Mexican
prescription drugs breaks laws
By Andrea Jackson
Times-News writer
Idaho pharmacists said a small Rupert market that sold prescription drugs from Mexico without a prescription this week acted outside the law.

Birth control and antibiotic pills were for sale Monday without prescriptions from under a glass counter at Diaz Campos Market at 507 F St. in Rupert.

Acting on a tip from a doctor in Rupert, the Times-News bought a box of Terramicina Oxitetraciclina with a Pfizer brand name, for $29.99 on Monday without a prescription.

The box, printed in Spanish, states the drug is from Mexico and requires a doctor’s note to buy.

Tetracycline, which the product may or may not contain, is an antibiotic that requires a prescription in the U.S.

Selling a Mexican version of the drug at a non-pharmacy without prescriptions breaks state and federal laws in America, said Idaho Board of Pharmacy Executive Director Mark Johnston.

It also could pose health risks, said Dr. Cathy Engle, a Twin Falls family practice doctor.

Store owner Bonifacio Diaz Campos said through a Spanish-speaking translator Tuesday that he didn’t know it was illegal to sell the drugs. He said he wasn’t sure exactly where the drugs came from, and assumed they were flu medication.

Campos said he will not sell the drug anymore at his store, and asked to have a list of products that are prohibited for sale in America.

The Idaho Board of Pharmacy oversees licensed pharmacies, and wouldn’t have jurisdiction over the Rupert store, said Johnston.

“Obviously that’s an illegal activity,” Johnston said. “It’s illegal on many levels. We will contact police.”

Doug Fuchs, pharmacist with Dick’s Pharmacy in Twin Falls inspected the tetracycline purchased by the Times-News from Campos’ store.

He said pills purchased at Campos’ store didn’t have numbers on them – a standard for prescription medications sold in America. He also said his pharmacy would charge less money than Campos’ store had for legal American tetracycline with a prescription.

“It has a Pfizer imprint but it may not be a Pfizer product,” said Fuchs. “We have no (oral) antibiotics sold over-the-counter in the U.S.”

Taking expired pills can cause liver damage. Antibiotics are prescribed by a doctor in America because of potentially harmful drug interactions and resistance, Engle said.

This is the first time Fuchs, Johnston and Engle said they’ve heard of a local store selling prescription medication from Mexico without prescriptions in America.

Rita Chappelle, spokeswoman for the federal Food and Drug Administration said her agency doesn’t know how often pharmaceuticals are smuggled illegally into the country. “Whenever we find it we go after it … The scope of the problem is they’re smuggling.”

Lori Haley, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also said cases like this are apparently rare. “(ICE agents) don’t have any information on any cases relevant to Idaho like this.”

ICE for three years investigated a case of Mexican prescription drug smuggling that ended in an indictment of Alejandro Herrera, 58, in April out of El Paso, Texas. He allegedly smuggled pharmaceutical drugs since 2000 from Mexico to businesses in Detroit and Chicago, according to an ICE press release.

TwinFalls Police and Idaho State Police recently seized about 20 bottles of Mexican alcohol allegedly being sold illegally at two Mi Pueblo bakery markets in Twin Falls and Buhl. Charges have not been issued and police are still trying to determine exactly how the alcohol got into America, said Twin Falls Police Capt. Matt Hicks.

The owner of the store, Esidro Nieto, has said he didn’t know selling the alcohol was illegal.

Andrea Jackson may be reached at 208-735-3380 or ajackson@magicvalley.

http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2008/08/21/news/minicassia/142768.txt