Organisation president Algernon Roberts made the comments ahead of the 31st Caribbean Association of Pharmacists conference this week, telling the Caribarena Antigua newspaper that the criminals who engage in this business are increasingly sophisticated.
“Traffickers often take advantage of countries where the laws are weak, such as Latin American and the Caribbean, as well as Africa,” Roberts said, adding that “narco-traffickers recognised that law enforcement authorities worldwide are making it much more difficult for them to ply their trade, so they are gradually turning to counterfeit drugs as replacements.”
He went on to say that the problem of pharmaceutical counterfeiting will be discussed at the conference, with the treatment of the crime by law enforcement authorities being a particular focus of debate.