When Medicine Kills
The US now spends around $15 billion a year fighting illegal drugs that are often grown on foreign soil, while medicines that are produced right here in the US are killing people. No one knows exactly what share of medicines are fake, badly made, or stolen.
Bad drugs are a global problem, especailly in "third world" countries where officials can be bribed, health systems lax and consumers are desperate. But it can happen right here in the US too.
One recent example is the at least 12 deaths caused by deaths from a fungal meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated epidural steroid injections distributed by a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts.
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