The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands yesterday flagged concerns the country's pharmaceutical industry was complicit in the raging opioid crisis afflicting the United States.

Dr Sands referenced pockets of opioid dependence in the country, stating while it did not match the epidemic faced by American health officials, it was "bad enough".

There is currently no programme monitoring the prescription of narcotics, he said.

Dr Sands added the country's weak legislative and regulatory framework has given rise to anecdotal accounts of local businesses cashing in on an increasing tourist demand for narcotics that was legal, but possibly unethical and immoral.

He told reporters outside the Cabinet Office the government was working to clamp down on the narcotics trend and also address gaps which allow for the prevalence of "gray market drugs."

"We are complicit in this (US) market," he said, "and there are anecdotally individuals who have a robust business in the prescription of narcotics. There are people that participate in it and it's legal, it's not like trafficking cocaine or marijuana, but the same way in the US where it can be a big business and a lucrative business, people get involved. And it can happen in a regulatory environment that is weak, as ours is. So people will say 'but it's not illegal, I'm not breaking the law,' well it may not be illegal but it's possibly unethical and immoral."

Dr Sands added: "We have pockets of individuals that have opioid dependence and who have opioid seeking behavior. I don't think it's as bad yet, but it's bad enough and we mirror or mimic what happens in the US. We take their good habits and their bad, so when we look at whether there is a need to revamp our approach to narcotics in particular: the answer is categorically, absolutely yes."

American President Donald Trump declared his country's opioid crisis as a public health emergency last month, following scores of reports that have labelled the epidemic the deadliest drug crisis in American history.

Dr Sands continued: "The [International Narcotics Control Board] gives a quota of narcotics to every given country, by a certain time in the year the Bahamas finds that it has run out of narcotics. So if you're a cancer patient if you are a surgical patient you can take Tylenol or Motrin because we have run out of narcotics.

"Could that be because we are prescribing those same pain medicines intended for internal [local] use to visitors? Now we don't have the same level of drug enforcement agency type oversight of narcotics in the Bahamas, the same type of prescription that I write a regular request for insulin, I can write a request for morphine.

"While it is possible to track it, it doesn't have the robust safety net that it ought to have in order to protect The Bahamas, so what happens we run out of medication and unfortunately if you have surgery or if you have cancer, well we out."

Dr Sands revealed those concerns during an interview on shortfalls in medication availability, telling reporters the challenges to keep drugs in stock were multifaceted for both the private and public sector.

He acknowledged public health has been significantly challenged in making certain medications available, but noted his ministry recently revamped the pharmacy department, and the senior pharmacy team, at the Princess Margaret Hospital along with other initiatives.

He told reporters in an earlier interview: "Our pharmacy legislation is not strong enough, or it's not as strong as it ought to be in 2017 and so we see in this market what we call gray market drugs. Drugs that are supposed to be going to Kuala Lumpur or Turkey or some other country not intended for this market, making its way into this country.

"We have unfortunately a challenge with narcotics in this country and I believe The Bahamas finds itself participating in the narcotics challenge in the US as visitors come here not necessarily for sun, sand, and sea, but to get narcotics, that's another challenge we're trying to shut down."