Expert warns against second-hand drugs being sold online

Meltem Özgenç - ANKARA

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An expert has raised the alarm about used drugs being sold online, with many using e-commerce platforms to sell unfinished drugs or even prescribed drugs on the red list.

People are selling drugs and creams that they haven’t finished but no longer need to use or even medicines their children were not able to swallow, Nurten Saydan, the head of the Turkish Employer Pharmacists Syndicate (TEİS), warned on Nov. 17.

“They’re committing a crime and they don’t know they’re doing this,” Saydan added, while warning that medicine should in no way be available for second-hand use.

While stressing the illegal sale of drugs on e-commerce websites, Saydan also warned against the risk of fraud.

Saydan said the sellers could resort to other fraudulent ways to sell these used drugs like selling syrup or poison in water bottles.

All types of such medicine, including injections, syrups, creams and medicines, are sold online at half price, according to her.

“People can suffer severely as there is no mechanism to control this system. Some sell their prescription drugs. This is a crime,” said Saydan.

“Drugs are not shoes. They are personal products. So, after a treatment, even if they have not been finished, they must be disposed.”