Harsh

I just saw a Dateline segment on tv tonight about companies that are making counterfeit prescription drugs and selling them off to patients around the world, including the U.S. One specific example they found was a drug called Procrit. I took this drug back during my first round of chemotherapy back in 2002. From what I remember, it's a red blood cell promoter, so it tends to give you some more energy and help you recover from the effects of chemo a bit quicker. They had a family whose mother had taken Procrit during her battle with breast cancer and found that it gave her a great deal of physical and mental strength to get through the treatment. At one point, the drug didn't seem to be working as well, and the family figured that it was the cancer starting to overcome her system and figured there was nothing they could do. It wasn't until a nurse at the facility later determined that they had been sold fake medicine that the family found out. I heard this tonight and I must say that I was horrified. I mean, I saw the title of the segment, so I knew what they were going to be talking about. But then I understood that what they were actually doing was rendering these medications completely useless. A doctor treating a patient might then decide (when the patient shows no response to a medication) to put them into further treatment (additional drugs) or higher quantities of the same in hopes that it will eventually be effective. My thought on these people: they should be burned. Not just the death penalty, but burned. Sounds harsh, I know and I'm a little shocked that I could project that cruel of a destiny on someone, but that was honestly my first reaction to that news.