By: Francis F. M. Harding
As Bill McCollum once said; “I respect a system that says we’re going to put everybody we have to put on to set to the drug dealer who is bringing his poison into the country.” There are two types of people in the industry of network marketing, peddlers and marketers. Peddlers push their opportunity to everyone they meet or know. Marketers market their values, not their opportunity. Peddlers are like direct sales representatives; they have, or feel the need to sell now, not later.
I want to draw the attention of ladies and gentlemen; about 87% of the network marketing companies out there teach and push the traditional way of building the business capacities. Let’s look at it in another light, if you put a lot of effort into making a romantic evening for you and your spouse to spend time together.
In Sierra Leone bubble-wrapped pills are scattered across the crude table in a busy market beside crumpled boxes of lubricant, paracetamol and anti-fungal powder. You will see a person approach and mutters words and the owner will come to shuffles through the piles of sexual aids that cover the table, generic, man-woman cream (lubricant), dubious looking condoms, before cutting a section containing two antibiotic capsules off a sheath and you will see them hands them over to their clients. Take a look at PZ roundabout with the drug peddlers. The so-called drug peddlers and marketers ply the streets of cities and villages across the country, selling pharmaceuticals, often counterfeit or substandard. Strides have been made over the past few years to ensure drugs are safe and effective, but medical practitioners still cite these drugs as one of the largest obstacles in their fight to save lives.
In Sierra Leone, we are still struggling to overcome the devastation of an 11-year war that left the nation in ruins, efforts remain beset by hurdles such as weak infrastructure, a lack of regulatory regimes in neighbouring countries, and few resources stretched in many directions. Pharmacies in Sierra Leone are regulated under its Pharmacy and Drugs Act 2001. But why we have several drugs peddlers and marketers plying the street in the country. The enforcement has been step up, and what to do about those peddling on the streets remains elusive.
The practice of drug-peddling vs. marketers, the illegal selling of unlicensed medicines has been taking place in Sierra Leone over the years. The government through the Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone has vowed to put an end to it but there is not enough action being taken. My boss wanted to address the issues of drug peddlers and marketers but the time so he assigned the task to me. It is everywhere in the country, in the vehicles, our communities, workplace. If someone travel through commercial vehicle you will find the so called marketers or drugs peddlers who is promoting their fake drugs to have for their living without caring about the once who have purchase the drugs from them.
If you travel from Goderich to Waterloo every drugs peddlers has mega phone selling their drugs. You will see young men and women standing to sell some king of substance with and they claims are curative powers. In the vehicle they will tells the passengers that the small chalk like twig in his hand can cure chronic headache, hyper-tension, breast cancer, piles, and sexual weakness. Ignorantly, passengers started buying, costing between Le 10, 15, 20, and 30. Although drug-peddling is illegal in Sierra Leone, in reality this is only the case in the law book.
Drug-peddlers endear themselves to the populous though their eloquence, ubiquity, and use of lucid language which is devoid of medical jargon. Moreover, in Freetown, one in four people are finding it difficult to see a doctor. This makes drug peddlers a much more attractive option. Someone would talk to his/her fellow passengers not to buy drugs without prescription you will see another passenger interrogate the first passenger that the drug peddlers “compliment” the activity of the Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone. Although they are untrained in the medical profession, they speak with authority of a doctor. Sexual weakness, rheumatism, abdominal pain, piles and jaundice, are caused by the accumulation of phlegm in the body.
Many of Sierra Leone’s leading pharmacologists, believes drug peddling poses a formidable threat to the health of Sierra Leoneans. Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone supposes to regulate who does what? Who are we blaming the drug peddlers and the street hawkers and the Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone for the influx of fake drugs and the culprits behind the sale of these drugs to the unsuspecting public. Section 35 (3) of the Pharmacy and Drugs Act 2001 which provides that “No person shall in anyway advertise any drugs, dressing or appliances, except with approval of the Board.” The Pharmacy Board is mandated to certify and monitor the operations of all pharmacies and drug stores in the country. The regulatory body has however failed to effectively execute its mandate due largely to lack of resources, both human and logistics.
This has led to the proliferation of drug retailing outlets with huge quantities of uncertified and counterfeit products, putting public safety in jeopardy. Improper storage of many of these pharmaceutical products has led to the reduction of their efficacy, thereby increasing their risk of complication on the consumer. Drugs, regardless of whether they are prescription or not, are sold over the counter without check. Lack of monitoring and enforcement capacity of the Board has created an open field for quack doctors who have basically replaced trained personnel, particularly in the hill side poor neighbourhood.
As most of the drugs sold in vehicles and on the streets are having no brand names or registered trademarks, and are sold by the people without any knowledge of how to dispense drugs. But are times it baffles me seeing educated people patronizing drugs in vehicles and these peddlers are only interested in their commercial gains rather than the safety of the patient. Pharmacists should move from behind the counter and start serving by providing care instead of pills only. If someone uses the two legal entry points for drugs importation in to Sierra Leone the government benefits from the tax and that should be win-win situation rather than one man benefiting at the detriment of others. As observed owners of this illegal consignment deliberately failed to go through the prescribed procedures because they knew that their consignment of drugs is counterfeit.
It’s seem that the country lack civic education on the dangers of peddling drugs, and if that is so, more need to done by Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone should brace up to tackle this menace in our society to educate the general public on the dangers of patronizing fake drugs and to buy their medications from recognised pharmacy shops. Though it startled to see people, especially the educated ones buying drugs in vehicles and on the streets from people who have no idea about drugs. Drugs are very important in life-saving situations and at the same time very detrimental to health if they are wrongly administered. Undoubtedly, the need for pharmacists should move from behind the counter and start serving by providing care instead of pills only remains unquestionable. Rather the questions should be:
- Who is issuing licenses to those drugs peddlers who does not meet their requirements or goes through the normal procedures to secured approval to trade in drug?
- Does Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone see that all pharmacies maintain a conducive atmosphere for medicines which should be stored in a cool and dry place?
- What have been done by Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone has done to tackle illegal drugs on the streets, to arrest drugs peddlers especially all during dry season when the sun is very hot and can affect the quality and potency of drug?
- What is the role of the Pharmaceutical Society Sierra Leone as pharmacy professionals in strengthening drugs amidst COVID-19 in Sierra Leone?
