Word Is Out on Faulty Medicine

All around them, health officials in Santa Ana knew, people were dangerously taking medicines banned in the United States but available in Mexico or prescribed by local store clerks with no medical training.

But it was the death of a 13-month-old boy from a series of spurious inoculations, they said, that jarred them into forming the Santa Ana Safe Medicine Coalition. They realized they needed to expose the danger of getting medical care from anyone other than a licensed physician or pharmacist.

On April 23, Christopher Martinez died after a man claiming to be a doctor gave the toddler five injections of an unknown substance, detectives say. A murder warrant was issued for Gamaliel Moreno, who remains at large.

Santa Ana police looking into the death discovered the prevalence of storefront clinics throughout the city, and over several months arrested several unlicensed shop owners and clerks who illegally sold a smorgasbord of medicines.

“You name it: antibiotics, experimental drugs for AIDS, drugs that had been banned from this country years ago because of birth defects and serious side effects. They had a whole variety of drugs for treating a whole spectrum of ailments,” said Santa Ana Police Capt. Dan McCoy.

Many of the medications had no labeling in English--which is illegal--or no labeling whatsoever, McCoy said. “You were given a drug, and you had no idea what the side effects were or anything.”

But officials realized that arrests wouldn’t solve the problem unless police and health-care professionals could reduce the demand.

“Just going out to get the bad guys wasn’t enough. We really needed to educate people,” said Felicia Helf, spokeswoman for the Safe Medicine Coalition.

The coalition joins volunteers from the UCI Family Health Center, the Orange County Health Care Agency, the Coalition for Health Education, Latino Health Access, the Wellness Initiative of Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital and St. Jude Medical Center, and several other community clinics and health-care providers.

“It’s time for the health community of Santa Ana to inform the people how to purchase their medications,” said Dr. Mary Watson, executive director of the nonprofit Free Health Plan, which operates two clinics in Santa Ana and is the coalition’s lead agency.

Santa Ana Safe Medicine is starting an outreach program, distributing posters and fliers telling residents to accept prescriptions and medications only from licensed pharmacists and doctors. Often, Watson said, people buy remedies at swap meets or go to Mexico for drugs that have been banned or are available only by prescription in the United States, Watson said.

“People are getting diagnosed by the people selling these things. These people are not trained,” she said. “They may be getting medications that are not medications. They may be getting the wrong drugs for the ailment they have.”

Volunteers planned to survey attendees at the Fiestas Patrias in Santa Ana this past weekend, a celebration of independence anniversaries for Mexico and other Latin American nations.

“We’re just trying to find where the problem is so we can begin our education campaign,” Helf said. “We’re trying to find out how pervasive the problem is.”

Once the group knows where and what the biggest problems are, it can direct the message, she said.

Watson said the group failed to get a state grant aimed at preventing child poisoning, but it is seeking other funding sources. Though coalition workers are volunteering their time, she hopes other members of the community can donate printing or advertising space so Santa Ana Safe Medicine can spread its gospel.

One reason people seek medical treatments from such questionable sources is that they have no health insurance or aren’t aware of the availability of legitimate, safe health care that’s free or lower-cost, officials said. The group wants to tell people about clinics such as Free Health Plan or how to get Medi-Cal or other low-cost coverage.

“There are other alternatives out there. They don’t need to seek illegal or unlicensed health care,” Helf said. “We just want to create awareness.”