Illicit drugs like ‘Russian roulette’

ONE of the most popular medicines on the internet today is the sex drug Viagra - but not everyone who buys it should be taking it.

We took the Viagra we bought to Dublin to drug firm Pfizer, which makes the tablets in Ireland.

Pfizer boss Dr John Farrell inspected our parcel and was deeply concerned, saying it was difficult to tell if it was genuine or fake.

“If you take medicine you have bought off the internet then you might as well put a loaded gun to your head. You don’t know what’s in it, you don’t know how it’s been stored and you don’t know if it’s real or counterfeit.

“You might as well play Russian roulette. By buying medicine off the net you going outside of all the safeguards put there to protect you.”

The prescribing doctor, the pharmacist, the drug manufacturer and the Government’s medicines experts are those safeguards, he says.

“All these people are there to make sure the person gets the right dose of the right medicine for them,” he says.

A recent study in Britain found that men who took surreptitious supplies of Viagra developed painful medical problems.

A senior nurse at one of the country’s biggest hospitals said: “We’re getting men in our casualty department all the time when they’ve taken Viagra they shouldn’t have. They’ve had erections lasting hours and the pain is so bad they are bent double and in tears.

“They’ve tried everything to get it down, like putting it in a bucket of iced water. You can imagine how bad the pain must be if they are prepared to overcome their embarrassment and come to casualty. It sounds hilarious but the pain isn’t.”

Viagra is meant for men who have erectile dysfunction. It overcomes the physical problem by relaxing blood vessels in the penis, allowing men to enjoy something approaching a normal sex life.

However, Dr Farrell said the dangers far outweigh the benefits of buying the drugs on the internet.

“The Canadian authorities found a factory making fake Viagra in Quebec. The people who were making it were also making amphetamine (speed) on the same line. The consequences do not bear thinking about, he said.

As people have no real way of knowing if their drugs are genuine, counterfeiters pose even greater dangers.

“People who make fake medicine will literally put anything in it. The best thing you can hope for is that it is harmless and there’s no active ingredient (the part of the drug that does the work).

“They can put in everything from paint and cement to anything that will make it look like real medicine - it can cause you serious harm.

“That’s not just medicines like Viagra; it’s every single medicine you can buy over the net.

“That’s everything from medicines in Europe to malaria medicines in the Third World. It’s a serious issue worldwide.”

We also showed Pfizer a copycat version of their cholesterol-busting drug Lipitor.

Lipitor is the world’s biggest-selling drug and is still on patent - but our version was called Atorlip and was made in Goa, India.

Pfizer spokeswoman Tara Delaney said the copycat version had infringed the company’s patent.

Pfizer is so alarmed at the availability of Viagra and other drugs that it is lobbying the Government for stricter controls on internet medicine.

The company is also looking at greater security measures so that people can distinguish the genuine article from those bought on the Internet.

But Dr Farrell said: “Even if medicines you get off the internet are genuine, the problem is that they have been taken outside the supply chain and rigorous controls.

“You have no idea where it has been stored or how it has been moved. It could have been kept in an outside shed with rats running all over it.”