Pubdate: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee Contact: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852 Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html SMUGGLED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS POSE HEALTH RISK Major shipments of Mexican prescription drugs are being smuggled into Southern California from Tijuana, fueling greater sales through illegal back-room clinics and storefronts, state and federal officials say. The pervasive black-market sales, mainly by Latino merchants, have emboldened shop owners not only to sell pharmaceuticals to immigrant customers but to take a more dangerous new step: Some merchants are giving injections and practicing medicine on customers. Tustin police are investigating whether the illegal practice contributed to the death Monday of 18 month old Selene Segura Rios. The girl died two hours after receiving what her parents were told was a penicillin injection in the back room of a toy store. She was the second Latino child in the last 10 months to die after receiving injections from unlicensed practitioners in Orange County. "Stores selling illegal prescription drugs of all kinds are a pervasive problem in the Hispanic community," said Howard Ratzky, a state drug investigator. "It's very hard to stop, and nobody knows how many stores out there are engaging in this." Ratzky said the issue has gone beyond "the trend of an unlicensed store selling prescription drugs." Some stores, he said, "have begun offering medical treatment by people identifying themselves as physicians." A U.S. Customs agent in San Diego also noted a growing number of cases where people who sell the drugs also inject them into patients. "Unfortunately, immigrants know where these places are. They'll go to the back of the store and someone will say, 'You look OK,' and an untrained person will give a kid an injection," the agent said. The problem with Mexican drugs is that many are counterfeit medicines and the quality control is lax, said U.S. Customs Agent Lisa Fairchild. "A scarier danger is that sometimes the packets don't contain the medication that the label says is inside," Fairchild said. On Wednesday, the same day that Tustin police announced Selene's death, state agents and local police raided the Trolley Minimart in El Monte. Investigators seized syringes and numerous pharmaceuticals manufactured in Mexico and hidden in false bottoms of cleanser containers and disguised in vitamin bottles, Ratzky said. Los Angeles and Orange counties "are a big market for pharmaceuticals smuggled from Tijuana," said a U.S. Customs agent who specializes in cases involving illegal prescription drugs. "The problem has grown dramatically in the last three or four years, but nobody has a handle on how much is being brought across." Buyers of illegal prescription drugs are typically low-income and uninsured, mostly immigrants from Mexico and Central America. But they can also be unwitting customers of pharmacies that bring in medications from Mexico. Despite the increasing number of prescription drug seizures at the border, customs officials have not maintained statistics on the problem. A customs spokesman in San Diego said the emphasis is still on tracking the number and quantities of narcotics seizures. The customs agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said pharmaceutical smugglers range from the nondescript to people such as Cliff Holt, a Park City, Utah, pharmacist. Holt was arrested after customs inspectors seized 19,000 prescription pharmaceuticals at the San Ysidro port of entry Jan. 17, 1998. Federal prosecutors said Holt purchased the drugs cheaply in Tijuana and sold them as U.S.-made pharmaceuticals, making an exorbitant profit in the process. Holt was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison. Customs inspectors and agents said that seizing illegal pharmaceuticals at the border is a difficult task. Conventional drug detection methods, which work well on cocaine, marijuana and heroin smugglers, are almost ineffective against prescription drug smugglers, authorities say. "You almost have to be lucky -- inspect the right vehicle or look in just the right backpack to stop it," said the customs agent interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. "We have rat-packers who make multiple trips, bringing in small amounts at a time," he said. "They store them in San Diego and, when they have a bunch, move them to Orange or Los Angeles counties." - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck