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Monday, August 15, 2005
There is little dent in the illicit street trading of pharmaceuticals in Jamaica. In fact it has been found that some legitimate pharmacies are a source of drugs sold in back-door deals. Six Kingston pharmacies are currently under watch, suspected of illegitmate sales by regulator, the Pharmaceutical Council of Jamaica (PCJ).
The street trade dominates both in Kingston and Spanish Town, says one detective, Corporal Kirk Roach, who in the past four months has made seven busts of roadside 'pharamcists' in the old capital.
Now the regulators of legitimate pharmacies are on a crackdown of the dangerous trade, using undercover field agents to spy on registered drug dispensers in a bid to keep them honest.
The names of the pharmacies being watched were withheld so as not to undermine the investigations, but the six are not alone on the list of alleged violators.
Two other pharmacists are currently before the courts on several charges, and within a two-year span, three others have been warned and had their licences suspended for short periods.
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