Call for crackdown on web prescription drugs trade

An “explosion” of illicit prescription drugs being ordered online has led to demands for a crackdown.

Independent TD Clare Daly has called for custom and excise services to move against the supply of illicit drugs flowing from websites as a matter of urgency.

She urged Health Minister James Reilly to “increase custom and exercise supervision of commercial packaging operators in order to deal with the explosion of prescription drugs being ordered online and delivered within a 24-hour period”.

But junior health minister Alex White said the Government was doing all it could to combat the trade.

He said a week-long international operation last September involving the gardaí, the Irish Medicines Board, and customs resulted in the detention of capsules and tablets with an estimated value in excess of €375,000.