SMUGGLED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS POSE HEALTH RISK

Major shipments of Mexican prescription drugs are being smuggled into
Southern California from Tijuana, fueling greater sales through illegal
back-room clinics and storefronts, state and federal officials say.

The pervasive black-market sales, mainly by Latino merchants, have
emboldened shop owners not only to sell pharmaceuticals to immigrant
customers but to take a more dangerous new step: Some merchants are giving
injections and practicing medicine on customers.

Tustin police are investigating whether the illegal practice contributed to
the death Monday of 18 month old Selene Segura Rios. The girl died two hours
after receiving what her parents were told was a penicillin injection in the
back room of a toy store.

She was the second Latino child in the last 10 months to die after receiving
injections from unlicensed practitioners in Orange County.

"Stores selling illegal prescription drugs of all kinds are a pervasive
problem in the Hispanic community," said Howard Ratzky, a state drug
investigator. "It's very hard to stop, and nobody knows how many stores out
there are engaging in this."

Ratzky said the issue has gone beyond "the trend of an unlicensed store
selling prescription drugs." Some stores, he said, "have begun offering
medical treatment by people identifying themselves as physicians."

A U.S. Customs agent in San Diego also noted a growing number of cases where
people who sell the drugs also inject them into patients.

"Unfortunately, immigrants know where these places are. They'll go to the
back of the store and someone will say, 'You look OK,' and an untrained
person will give a kid an injection," the agent said.

The problem with Mexican drugs is that many are counterfeit medicines and
the quality control is lax, said U.S. Customs Agent Lisa Fairchild. "A
scarier danger is that sometimes the packets don't contain the medication
that the label says is inside," Fairchild said.

On Wednesday, the same day that Tustin police announced Selene's death,
state agents and local police raided the Trolley Minimart in El Monte.
Investigators seized syringes and numerous pharmaceuticals manufactured in
Mexico and hidden in false bottoms of cleanser containers and disguised in
vitamin bottles, Ratzky said.

Los Angeles and Orange counties "are a big market for pharmaceuticals
smuggled from Tijuana," said a U.S. Customs agent who specializes in cases
involving illegal prescription drugs. "The problem has grown dramatically in
the last three or four years, but nobody has a handle on how much is being
brought across."

Buyers of illegal prescription drugs are typically low-income and uninsured,
mostly immigrants from Mexico and Central America. But they can also be
unwitting customers of pharmacies that bring in medications from Mexico.

Despite the increasing number of prescription drug seizures at the border,
customs officials have not maintained statistics on the problem. A customs
spokesman in San Diego said the emphasis is still on tracking the number and
quantities of narcotics seizures.

The customs agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said pharmaceutical
smugglers range from the nondescript to people such as Cliff Holt, a Park
City, Utah, pharmacist. Holt was arrested after customs inspectors seized
19,000 prescription pharmaceuticals at the San Ysidro port of entry Jan. 17,
1998.

Federal prosecutors said Holt purchased the drugs cheaply in Tijuana and
sold them as U.S.-made pharmaceuticals, making an exorbitant profit in the
process. Holt was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison.

Customs inspectors and agents said that seizing illegal pharmaceuticals at
the border is a difficult task. Conventional drug detection methods, which
work well on cocaine, marijuana and heroin smugglers, are almost ineffective
against prescription drug smugglers, authorities say.

"You almost have to be lucky -- inspect the right vehicle or look in just
the right backpack to stop it," said the customs agent interviewed by the
Los Angeles Times.

"We have rat-packers who make multiple trips, bringing in small amounts at a
time," he said. "They store them in San Diego and, when they have a bunch,
move them to Orange or Los Angeles counties."