Kent: Mum counts cost of illegal drug trade – BBC News

A Kent woman whose son died after taking medication bought online is warning of the dangers of buying fake or unlicensed drugs from fake websites and the dark web.

More than 50 million doses of illegal drugs have been seized in the UK in the last five years, according to new figures obtained by the BBC.

Kim Webster’s 17-year-old son, William Horley, died in 2018 after taking the prescription painkiller Tramadol recreationally with a friend.

Mrs Webster, from Herne Bay, says her son “died and his friend didn’t – we’ll never know why”.

The seizures between 2019 and 2023 include over-the-counter pain relievers, anti-anxiety drugs, diet pills and erectile dysfunction drugs.

Criminal gangs sell drugs illegally through websites designed to look like legitimate pharmacies.

According to the government’s campaign, making purchases on these websites also increases your risk of being robbed by credit card fraud or having your identity stolen.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the 50 million doses seized had a street value of up to £70 million.

Mrs Webster, who lectures in schools for the Kenward Trust, a charity which supports people with addiction, said her son had taken a “bet” by taking the painkiller bought online.

“It just goes to show that it’s a currency, one of your friends could take a pill and be fine, but you could take it and have dangerous consequences,” she said.

She said some people become addicted to drugs and turn to buying them illegally.

“They can become addicted to opioids, but it’s so easy to buy drugs online and get them delivered right to your door.”

BBC South East used the Freedom of Information Act to request a number of unlicensed and counterfeit medicines seized by the MHRA in collaboration with law enforcement agencies.

The goods were found in ports and postal centers along with domestic seizures.

The MHRA said last year it had disrupted more than 12,000 illegal trading websites.

The MHRA said the biggest challenge comes from medicines that are unlicensed or not approved for use in the UK, which are often smuggled in across borders.

They said gangs selling illegal prescription drugs are another threat, along with a much smaller trade in counterfeit drugs.

Andy Morling, deputy director general of the MHRA (crime enforcement), said buying drugs illegally was like “Russian roulette” where you “never know what you’re going to get”.

He said: “So if you buy a product that has been counterfeited, it could contain anything, any active ingredient, or it could have a very toxic ingredient in it.

He said some had started buying drugs online during the pandemic.

“We’re certainly seizing more products, but there’s no solid baseline to determine if it’s a growing threat or we’re getting better at finding them,” he added.

“Not only are they funding other forms of organized crime with this, but they are making themselves vulnerable by sharing their credit card information.”

“The product they get, there’s absolutely no guarantee that it’s authentic or effective, and it could even be very harmful.”

Dr David Triska, a GP in Surrey, said people were “looking elsewhere for value for money” and “unfortunately sometimes terrible events happen as a result”.

Dr Triska suspected that some patients were also reluctant to talk to their doctor about certain medicines.

“Clinical problems are relatively expensive if you try to buy them over the counter, but the most common thing I find is that people are too embarrassed to see their doctor and maybe they don’t realize that these products are widely available,” added he we .

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is warning the public to check that all medicines bought online are from reputable websites.

Director Laura Wilson said: “Medications are not the usual consumer goods we are used to buying online.

“If you use the internet to buy medicines, make sure you do so from a regulated site, identified by the GPhC green online pharmacy logo.