Bill Aimed at Black Market Drugs Planned

Charging that “children are dying and people are being injured,” a state lawmaker said Tuesday that he will introduce a bill next year that would make it a felony to illegally sell pharmaceuticals in California.

Assembly Health Committee Chairman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park) said the sale in back-room clinics of drugs made for Mexico is a critical issue that also needs to be addressed with the Mexican government.

Officials in Mexico “need to understand that it’s not just [harming] American citizens, but Mexican nationals as well,” said Gallegos, who authored legislation last year that led to the creation of county task forces to crack down on the sale of the drugs.

Gallegos’ action follows a three-day Times series detailing how drugs are being sold out of back-room clinics in the United States despite being banned or tightly restricted because of severe side effects.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina said Tuesday that she will join the push to toughen the penalties. “The price to pay isn’t heavy enough yet to prevent those things,” she said.

Gallegos, backed by Molina, attempted to push through a bill making such sales a felony last year, but was derailed by Senate leaders who said they would not allow new bills to pass that would create nonviolent felonies.

Gallegos said he may propose that the crime be a “wobbler,” allowing a judge to decide whether it should be a misdemeanor or a felony and to exempt it from three-strikes laws.