SECTION A: ESSAY
The National Scholarship Secretariat is organising an essay competition on the topic: The menace of fake drugs in the society. Write your entry.
Explanation
The menace of fake drugs in the society
A reliable good-quality drug supply is essential for good health. But often it is missing in society where men and women are dubious. Falsified and substandard medicines, poisoning, lead to untreated disease, early death and treatment failure. Fake drug could be seen as pharmaceutical fraud, a situation where there are substandard drugs in circulation, contaminated products used as drugs, a deliberate fraud by a medical dealer. Fake drug may contain toxic doses of dangerous ingredients and substances that make poor-quality medicines that can never be effective in the treatment of chronic and infectious diseases, causing progression, drug resistance and finally death. Fake drugs is a very serious menace that has threatened the health of the populations in the society today and in the future.
The crux of the matter and the more insidious problem is medicine that does not work ineffective medicines often contains benign ingredients. such as chalk pollen or flour, instead of medical chemicals. More dangerously some fake drugs contain substances intended to mask the illness and feign treatment. Patients taking such drugs die with the diseases not effectively treated with original drugs. Drugs are intended to cure patients, or at least to relieve symptoms or show the progression of a disease.
Fake drugs affect people in the society. The users of fake drugs are exposed to serious health complication that can affect vital body organs and their functions. Such cases damages the brain, dame other body organs such as liver, heart, lungs and kidney. It can also lead to drug related
diseases, such as irregular heart-beat, high blood pressure and others.
Fake drugs can also lead to death in some cases, because if drugs are administered with the intention of curing diseases and the drugs are without the vital ingredients or substances.It will not cure the disease, and the patient may eventually die as a result of the fake drugs. It has also been observed by clinical psychologists that fake drugs has caused some individuals to be incapacitated in all aspects of their lives some men are impotent and some women are barren for life.
Fake drugs can also affect the unborn babies. Some babies are born dead, some are born imbeciled, some loss sense of good judgment, some have deviant behaviours, some are very lazy and weak to do any task. Some times the foetuses are damaged. The resultant effects could be stillborn or ectopic pregnancy, all because of fake drugs.
Must we continue to live with the menace of fake drugs in our society? must we continue to mourn as our love ones pass away to the great beyond? The answer is no! We must not continue in this way. Then what must we do to cure or totally eradicate the menace of fake drugs in our society? The government in conjunction with the relevant drugs law enforcement agencies must ensure that offenders in fake drugs and counterfeit drugs are made to face the full weight of the law and severely punished. Any person who has the equipment or materials used in the production of fake drugs should be jailed without an option of fine.
Laws should be promulgated prohibiting the use of drugs without the doctors prescription. No medical personnel should be allowed to practise without authenticated licence.
The government should regulate, and control the importation, exportation, manufacturing, distributing, sale, advertising medical equipment and chemicals.
The agencies should periodically conduct inspections of all premises used for the production of food, drugs, cosmetic and other related items and issue certificate of usage on those that are original and publicly destroy the ones that are fake or substandard. They must also ensure that every product has manufacturing and expiration dates boldly written on the pack. Imported drugs must be ascertained and certified before clearance for use from the agencies are issued. The religious leaders should use the Holy Books like the Bible, Quran etc. to teach the dangers of fake drugs in the society. Every individual in the family, villages, Local Government Areas, State and the nation at large should be educated on the dangers of fake and counterfeit drugs There should be material and cash rewards to those who give useful information leading to the arrest of fake drugs barons.
If we are sincere and serious with our health we must put into practice, all the above mentioned ways of eradicating the menace of fake drugs in the society, we shall live long and enjoy our lives on earth. Thanks.
Njoku Okoro