TOTAL MEDICATION LOCKDOWN: PEOPLE INDICTED FOR "SMUGGLING" FDA-APPROVED DRUGS FROM CANADA THAT ARE LEGAL TO BUY IN AMERICA

Total medication LOCKDOWN: People indicted for "smuggling" FDA-approved drugs from Canada that are legal to buy in America
Saturday, September 12, 2015 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Canada, prescription drugs, Big Pharma




(NaturalNews) Big Pharma firms have such a lock on the U.S. market – the most lucrative in the world – that they have the power of the federal government in their pockets. So much so that if anyone steps outside the box or colors outside the Big Pharma-designated lines, Uncle Sam will smack them down.

That kind of influence is embodied in the case of an Illinois man who has recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired with an online Canada-based pharmacy to smuggle mislabeled, unapproved and false prescription drugs into the U.S., so he could resell them to American doctors.

In recent days Ram Kamath was forced to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch in Missoula, Montana, for arraignment, the only one of 14 individuals and companies named as defendants to, so far, appear in court to face criminal charges of smuggling, conspiracy and money laundering.

'You need our permission'

Also, the Seattle PI reported:

Federal prosecutors accuse Canadadrugs.com, its CEO Kristjan Thorkelson and its affiliated companies and associates of selling $78 million in prescription drugs, primarily cancer treatment drugs, to U.S. doctors. Nearly all of the drugs are legal in the U.S. when sold by FDA-approved manufacturers and marketers.

Prosecutors charge that some of the drugs were intentionally mislabeled by having text in a foreign language, or they were missing the required "Rx Only" symbol. Other drugs, they said, such as the Turkish medication Altuzan, have yet to be officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Also, a pair of cancer treatment drugs were counterfeit versions, the indictment says.

"Canada Drugs purchased its inventory from questionable sources and ultimately sold counterfeit versions of the drugs Altuzan and Avastin to physicians in the United States," the indictment says.

Federal prosecutors said they will attempt to extradite Thorkelson and additional defendants from Canada, Barbados and the United Kingdom if they refuse to appear in court voluntarily, the court documents said.

The online company of 14 years, based in Winnipeg, says on its website that it offers low prices on medicines from Canada, the UK, Australian and New Zealand. In 2009 and 2010, the company bought other firms – including Montana Healthcare Solutions – that sold and distributed prescription medications to U.S. health providers directly. Using the customer lists of those newly acquired companies, Canadadrugs.com then started selling to physicians by shipping medications from its UK subsidiary, the indictment states.

That subsidiary, River East Supplies, allegedly falsified customs labels in a bid to undervalue the packages' content so it could avoid regulatory scrutiny of the shipments, prosecutors say. Then the drugs would go to unnamed companies in Illinois, Tennessee and Washington state for distribution.

Federal officials claim that when the company discovered the counterfeit drugs it attempted to cover up the problem by asking Klamath to place some of them in his Downers Grover, Ill., home, while attempting to recall them to the UK.

'Pharmacy to the developing world'

The Seattle PI reported:

Kamath was director of pharmacy policy and international verifications for an unnamed company, for which he inspected storage facilities kept by Internet pharmacies. The online pharmacies funneled cash to Kamath's company and paid for a trip to Barbados with four-star accommodations for Kamath to inspect Canadadrugs.com's facilities there, according to the indictment.

In addition to using the federal government to help shut out international competition, Big Pharma has also used its influence to shut out cheaper generic medications as well.

As noted in this Natural News Blog post:

Many of the least-served populations obtain medicines that are produced in India – known as the "pharmacy of the developing world" – because the country didn't start granting patents on drugs until 2005...

Big pharma companies are unhappy with India's policies – preferring to file lawsuits and bully the country rather than allow life-saving medicines to be produced. For example, Novartis spent seven years challenging patent laws, until the Indian Supreme Court decided to uphold the country's patent laws and decided against the big pharma.

To read more articles about the current police state in the United States, go to PoliceState.news

Sources:

Seattlepi.com

Blogs.NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com


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