Selling drugs online even for medical purposes prohibited - Dr Subramaniam

The Health Ministry has stressed that no one is allowed to sell controlled drugs online even for medical purposes.

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said selling of drugs listed as controlled or banned under the Poisons Act 1952 is against the laws of the country and medical ethics.

"All medicines in the list need a prescription by qualified medical personnel before they can be given to the patient.

"For example, morphine, which is a banned substance. However, we (ministry) use it in hospitals for medical purposes. It is for pain relief in some cases particularly in critical cases or after major surgery," he told reporters after chairing a meeting of MIC''s Central Working Committee at the party's headquarters here today.

The MIC president was commenting on the arrest of an individual nicknamed ''Dr Ganja'' for selling cakes, milk, chocolate and honey laced with drugs for "medical purpose" via Facebook, WeChat and WhatsApp.

Federal Police Narcotics Investigation Department deputy director Datuk Kang Chez Chiang at a press conference here today said the suspect and two other individuals who had been doing the same the last five or six months were caught in Klang on Friday.

He said police seized 18 marijuana trees, four kilos of compressed marijuana (ganja), and the said items containing ganja and a car, altogether valued at RM21,000, when making the arrests.

-- BERNAMA