PETALING JAYA: Despite being one of the most regulated pharmaceutical products in Malaysia and the world, performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are being sold openly on Malaysia’s most well-known online shopping platforms.
There is a wide variety of PEDs out there, and that variety is equally available on these shopping platforms. A search for whey protein powder returned a variety of results which included Anavar tablets (known formally as Oxandrolone) which is an anabolic steroid.
A search for Anavar, meanwhile, revealed a further variety of PEDs, with one seller selling up to six variations. The seller claims to have sold 11 of the products and says his products are from a German company called Meditech.
Checks to determine whether Meditech was a legitimate German company failed to yield conclusive results as there were a few companies with the same name. But it was Meditech Pharmaceuticals which caught attention. Meditech Pharmaceuticals openly marketed PEDs on their website and their products were packaged similarly to the products seen on local online shopping platforms.
However, there is no proof the company is German, as their ‘About Us’ section reveals closed to nothing. They do have a section called ‘Real or Fake’, which attempts to provide information on how customers can determine the authenticity of their products. This then begs the question of whether the PEDs sold on these platforms are really what they say they are.
Nevertheless, fake or not, the unauthorised sale and use of these products are illegal. PEDs are governed under the Poisons Act 1952 and the law says that these products can only be bought from a pharmacist with a prescription by a doctor.
Selling by any other means could land traders in trouble as section Section 32(2) of the Poisons Act 1952 of the law provides for a punishment of a fine of RM5,000 and up to two years imprisonment or both.
The public is urged to be cautious with misusing these PEDs due to their side effects which can include: fertility problems for men, testicular atrophy, heart attacks and in severe cases, fatality.
