Recently, two mothers, Li Fang and Zhang Hong, from Zhongmu County, Henan Province, were involved in a "drug trafficking" case.
The "drug" involved is the drug they have been giving to children with "refractory epilepsy" - Kloppathan.
In their experience of taking their children to seek medical treatment, "Chloebazan" was recommended by the doctor and written into the doctor's order. But because the drug has not yet been listed in China, they can only find someone to buy it.
(In the medical orders provided by the patient's family, chlorpazam was mentioned.) ）
This year, at the request of the "Iron Horse Glacier" (net name, hereinafter referred to as "Iron Horse"), they helped sign for a shipment of chlorambuzan from abroad. Subsequently, the "Iron Horse" and the families of four patients who helped receive and send drugs were arrested by the police, and in November they were identified by the Zhongmu County Procuratorate as "suspected of smuggling, transporting, and trafficking drugs."
The two mothers can't understand how they just bought medicine for their children to treat their diseases, so how did they become "drug dealers"?
"Crash" kids
Li Fang often feels that her children are like "dead machines".
Most of the time, the 1-year-old and 9-month-old dragon lies in the arms of his mother, not crying or making trouble, his eyes fluttering for no reason, and he does not react to the words and actions of the people around him.
(Li Fang and son Long Long)
Occasionally, when the disease occurs, the dragon will suddenly convulse, blue in the face, and spit in the mouth.
In December 2019, the ninth day of Long Long's birth, Li Fang took her child to check for jaundice as usual. The clinic doctor said that the child was just physiological jaundice, which would naturally subside. Li Fang felt uneasy and took the child to the provincial women and children, wanting to give the child a comprehensive examination.
Not long after being sent for examination, the doctor came to her and told her that the child was not in a good condition. "He took a video to show us. Long Long's two hands twitched like this. She made a "hug" gesture with both hands inward.
A few months later, Long long was diagnosed with "epilepsy (infantile epilepsy accompanied by wandering focal seizures)." The doctor told her that the disease was almost incurable, and the child's cognitive ability and motor ability would not develop.
(Dragon Dragon's Diagnostic Report)
According to a paper published in the Chinese Journal of Pediatrics by Professor Zhang Yuehua, chief physician of the Department of Pediatrics of Peking University First Hospital, infantile epilepsy accompanied by wandering focal seizures (EIMFS) is epileptic encephalopathy, which is a rare refractory epilepsy in early infants, and there are few reports on the disease at home and abroad, and the incidence is unknown. Children with poor intellectual and motor development, poor response to antiepileptic drugs, poor prognosis, and high mortality.
Before Long Long was born, Li Fang felt that her life was going well. She was in love and married with her boyfriend, and her relationship has always been good. After graduating from graduate school, she found a job as a book editor in her hometown.
Over thirty years old, Li Fang and her husband discussed together and decided to add a baby to the small family. Two or three years pregnant, Li Fang became pregnant with Long Long. She felt fortunate that throughout her pregnancy, except for a little morning sickness, she did not feel any other discomfort, and nothing abnormal happened at each obstetric examination. She remembers saying to her mother, "Look, God gave me a wonderful baby angel."
(Li Fang is feeding Long Long)
After Long Long was diagnosed, Li Fang only wanted to lock herself up. She chose to "disconnect" from her friends: she did not answer the phone and did not return to WeChat. When a friend calls, he doesn't hang up, so he keeps it in a state of "no one answering".
It wasn't until May of this year, when friends continued to care about her, that she opened her heart and replied. When a friend asked what had happened in the past two years, she replied: "Postpartum depression."
Li Fang's life was also completely disrupted. She did not trust the babysitter, originally did not want to be a full-time mother, she quit her job and took care of Long Long at home.
(Dragon Dragon's Toy)
When Long Long was three or four months old, his condition suddenly worsened, and after being sent to the hospital, he needed to rely on two sedative drugs, midazolam and lumina tablets, to stabilize his condition. But the dragon still kept trembling. At this time, the doctor proposed that you can try clobats, but this medicine cannot be bought in China, and you need to find your own channels to buy.
Li Fang asked for a purchase in the patient group and spent more than 700 yuan to buy a box of chlorpacham. She and her husband clearly remember that the day after using Chlorpachan, Long Long's condition was obviously controlled, and "it felt that he was different from before."
After Long Long was discharged from the hospital, Li Fang kept looking for channels to buy Chloe Ba zhan, and later, she became acquainted with the "iron horse" of purchasing. According to Li Fang, "Iron Horse" has an eight-year-old daughter who suffers from infantile spasms (a type of pediatric epilepsy) and also needs to buy medicine from abroad.
(Dragon Dragon's EEG Report)
"Iron Horse" has a purchasing group, drugs sell cheaper than others, 20 mg of a piece of chlorpachia as long as 400 yuan a box, and each time they are shipped first and then collect money, she and some patients are more willing to find "Iron Horse" to buy.
In July, she purchased two boxes of chlorpacham standby. Soon after, the group leader "Iron Horse" disappeared.
"Drug trafficking"
One day in early September, at about eight o'clock in the morning, Li Fang and her parents were eating breakfast at home, and Long Long was still lying in the bedroom and had not yet woken up. There was a knock at the door, and the policeman outside the door asked Li Fang if he recognized the "iron horse" and whether he would help him pick up a package. After receiving a positive answer, the police took away Chloe Bazhan from her home and took Li Fang to the Public Security Bureau for a record.
Li Fang remembered that at the end of May, "Iron Horse" had contacted her, saying that the address was not enough, and that a drug worth 2400 yuan had been sent from abroad and asked her to help sign for it. The WeChat message reads: "If there is a message from customs, contact me." Hopefully not. "Not long after, she received the package, the express carton is not large, she did not open, directly according to the address given by the other party to send it."
(Chat history of Iron Horse and Zhang Hong)
After the shipment, the "iron horse" sent a red envelope, which she did not receive, thinking that it was just a "small help". After the package was signed, the "iron horse" transferred 18 yuan of courier fees to her, and also said a sentence "You always have to collect the courier fee."
She didn't take this little thing to heart or mention it to her husband. In her opinion, it is normal for patients to help each other. "There is a very natural trust between patients, and everyone is huddled together for warmth." So when the Iron Horse made the request, she didn't expect it to cause a series of serious problems.
At the end of the transcript, the police left the pill box of Chloe Ba Zhan and returned the medicine to Li Fang, who came to the bail pending trial the next day. She was shocked and felt that the matter might be a little serious, so she asked herself what the specific crime was.
Li Fang also remembers that the police comforted her at that time, "The crime is very long, but nothing happened." Only then did she learn that she was "suspected of smuggling, transporting, and trafficking drugs."
(Li Fang, Zhang Hong and five other patients' families are suspected of smuggling, transporting and trafficking drugs)
Li Fang's body, which had been shaken when she learned of the accusation. In the cognition of ordinary people, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine are common drugs, for Li Fang, "chlorphazan" is only a medicine for children to treat diseases, "medicine is medicine, how can it be related to drugs?" ”
And "drug trafficking" is an extremely bad accusation for her, a crime that ordinary people will not be exposed to for a lifetime under normal circumstances.
In this case, Li Fang was the last person to be arrested. Two months ago, Zhang Hong, who is also in Zhongmu County, was taken away by the police at the courier point.
Zhang Hong's son Pan Pan was diagnosed with "refractory pediatric epilepsy" two years ago and is taking four drugs, including "clopajan", to control the disease.
(Pan Pan's medical advice also mentions the need to take clobatan)
When she was a few months old, Zhang Hong suddenly found that her son would convulse unconsciously: his hands were raised in front of his chest, and his whole body suddenly and rapidly curled up, as if frightened.
But this happened only once a few days, and they only did two years of rehabilitation training with hope. It was not until he was two years old that Panpan's condition suddenly worsened, and he would convulse dozens of times a day, when he was diagnosed.
At the beginning of treatment, Pan Pan took more than a dozen domestic drugs for epilepsy, but none of them worked. Until taking the doctor's recommended "clobasan", Zhang Hong found that her son's condition was significantly controlled.
(Explanation of Clopazan in Principles and Practice of Epilepsy Therapy)
Before she became pregnant with Panpan, Zhang Hong had two miscarriages, so as soon as she became pregnant with Panpan, she resigned and devoted herself to taking the child. Now the family only relies on her husband to drive an online car to make money, and in order to treat the child, it has owed more than 100,000 yuan in debt.
"Iron Horse" medicines are sold cheaper than other daigou. Zhang Hong generally buys 10 mg a piece of clopazhan, compared to 20 mg a piece, this as long as 300 yuan a box, 50 capsules. According to the doctor's advice, Panpan needs to take two capsules a day.
On June 28, she received a WeChat message from "Iron Horse": "Little sister, there is a package that is passing through customs, pay attention to text messages or phone calls in these days", the message states that this time sent to Zhang Hong is "30 boxes of chlorinated ba".
(WeChat sent by Iron Horse to Zhang Hong)
In the following days, Zhang Hong did not receive a call from the customs.
On the morning of July 3, "Iron Horse" told Zhang Hong that the package was almost here. At about 9:30 a.m., she received a call from the courier and asked for the "Iron Horse" address, ready to receive the package and send it to him. But waiting for her at the courier point were five or six plainclothes policemen.
After the public security bureau made a record, Zhang Hong was detained in a detention center. The police told her that they would let her go when she was caught and asked about it. While in the detention center, Pan Pan was hospitalized with a fever, and Zhang Hong's family came to the public security bureau to request release. After being held for six days, Zhang Hongcai saw her son in the hospital.
(Explanation of reasons for non-prosecution received by Zhang Hong)
On October 13, the purchaser "Iron Horse" and four patients who helped him collect the package were transferred by the Zhongmu police to the Zhongmu County Procuratorate for review and prosecution, and their suspected crimes were "smuggling, transporting, and selling drugs."
Drugs or drugs?
Why is Clopazan, which is used to treat children with epilepsy, classified as a drug?
According to article 357 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the term "narcotics" as used in the Criminal Law refers to opium, heroin, methamphetamine (methamphetamine), morphine, marijuana, cocaine and other narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances that can cause people to become addicted to drugs under the control of State regulations.
The "chlorpalocyan" belongs to the second category of psychotropic drugs in the "Catalogue of Psychotropic Substances (2013 Edition)" issued by the former State Food and Drug Administration.
In 2017, the National Narcotics Control Commission conducted research and demonstration on the conversion standards of heroin or methamphetamine for 100 narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances that have not yet been clearly defined in the Catalogue of Varieties of Narcotic Drugs (2013 Edition) and the Catalogue of Varieties of Psychotropic Substances (2013 Edition). It shows that 1 gram of chlorpal is equivalent to 0.1 grams of heroin in terms of sentencing standards.
After being released on bail, Li Fang found two cases on the Internet that were also sentenced for "Chloebazan". In both cases, the defendants purchased drugs for epilepsy from abroad and sold them to others.
In the 2017 Shenzhen jurisprudence, drugs for epilepsy treatment such as Clobazhan and Xibaoning were identified as "counterfeit drugs", and the defendants were convicted of "illegal business operations". In the 2020 Shenyang jurisprudence, clopazhan was classified as a "Class II psychotropic substance", and the defendant's conduct constituted "illegal business operation" because he "violated the national drug administration regulations and illegally sold drugs controlled by the state regulations".
(Shenzhen Jurisprudence 2017)
This may be related to the provisions in the Minutes of the National Symposium on the Trial of Drug Crimes in Courts (hereinafter referred to as the Minutes) issued in 2015.
Article 7 of the "Minutes" indicates that with regard to the characterization of illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances: Where the perpetrator sells narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances that can cause people to become addicted to the law of smuggling or trafficking drugs or to persons who consume or inject drugs, he shall be convicted and punished for the crime of drug trafficking. Whoever, for medical purposes, violates the state regulations on drug management, illegally sells the above-mentioned narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, disrupts market order, and the circumstances are serious, shall be convicted and punished for the crime of illegal business operation.
On November 22, Li Fang received a "decision not to prosecute" from the Zhongmu County People's Procuratorate, in which Li Fang was still found to be "suspected of smuggling, transporting, and trafficking drugs" and decided not to prosecute on the grounds that the circumstances of the crime were "minor."
(Decision not to prosecute received by Li Fang)
Luo Xiang, a well-known legal figure, once gave an explanation on this matter. According to article 177 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, there are three situations of non-prosecution: first, statutory non-prosecution, that is, innocence and non-prosecution. The second is discretionary non-prosecution, that is, where the circumstances of the crime are minor and there is no need to impose a criminal punishment or waive the punishment in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law, the people's procuratorate may make a decision not to prosecute. Third, there is insufficient evidence and no prosecution.
Li Fang's case is a discretionary non-prosecution, and in nature it is still considered to be a crime, but because the circumstances of the crime are minor, the conviction is exempt from punishment.
Li Fang said she could not accept the result and did not sign the confession.
I'm not a "drug dealer"
After inexplicably becoming a "drug dealer", Li Fang fell into emotional difficulties and even thought about ending her life.
Before that, prosecutors had informed Li Fang that she would eventually be convicted of "smuggling, transporting, and trafficking drugs."
After the incident, Li Fang could not find an emotional outlet and was on the verge of collapse. "Law enforcement people do things according to the rules, and I just want to buy medicine for my children. They are not wrong, I am not wrong, is it the child who is wrong? Everyone is right, if I don't plant it myself, then everything will disappear, and no one will be wrong. ”
(Screenshot of the movie "I Am Not a Medicine God")
Li Fang's husband, Wang Yong, remembers that on a recent Friday, after work, his wife told him that she had left a letter with a friend. He immediately sensed that something was wrong with his wife and made several phone calls and did not answer. After it was difficult to connect, he said to Li Fang: "I am driving home now, you don't want me to get into a car accident because of the speed of the car, right?" ”
Li Fang sobered up and calmed down. When Wang Yong found his wife, she was sitting downstairs blowing the wind. He took his wife for walks and meals to calm her nerves.
After being identified as a "drug dealer", Zhang Hong also encountered a misunderstanding from her sister. "She didn't understand, thought I was just in trouble, and hadn't spoken to her for months. I feel ashamed that something like this has happened at home. ”
In addition to the "crime", Li Fang's biggest worry is that after the matter was exposed, it was difficult to find a medicine for chlorinat, originally 500-600 yuan a box, and now it has risen to nearly 1,000 yuan, "no one has sold it yet."
(Li Fang's family's chlorination accounts for not much)
Patients are anxious about medication and hope that the state can introduce policies as soon as possible so that people in need can buy clopazan through formal channels.
In the WeChat group of several patients named One Meter Sunshine [Infant Spasms], many family members of the children have released information on seeking medicine. A family member named "Song Song Dad" said in an interview with Health Times: "Recently, because of the lack of drugs, we gathered 1490 parents in 3 days, and obtained 1042 real-name signatures within 15 hours. ”
At present, more than 1600 children need to take clobatam drugs, and most of them are already at risk of discontinuation.
(In the WeChat group, parents who lack drugs are asking where to buy drugs)
In the two years that Long Long has been ill, Li Fang has heard the doctor say the most words is "this child lives without hope and value", whenever she hears such words, she only feels angry, "How he has no value, we gave birth to him, just want him to feel the world."
Li Fang and her husband took Long Long to outings, visit supermarkets, go to children's playgrounds, buy him toys, let him enjoy his childhood life like other children, "Our family Long Long is still a very happy child." Only sometimes, she would suddenly stop and ask herself, can The Dragon Dragon really feel these "happiness"? She might never know—the dragon couldn't sit up on her own, let alone talk.
Some doctors also assert that the dragon will live at most two or three years old.
(Collective signature of the family of the child who is deficient)
Li Fang has no plans to have a second child, and she worries that if the exact cause is not found, "it is very likely that another one will be reborn."
The only thing that makes Li Fang feel comforted is that Long Long can still swallow on his own at present, without the need to carry a trachea and stomach tube, "it looks quite comfortable."
Li Fang couldn't explain clearly, what kind of reaction to her son, who had no reaction to the outside world, was a sign of happiness, but she knew that Long Long liked to be "lifted high", but now that Long Long had weighed 40 pounds, she needed to work with her husband and two people to throw him up.
For the future, in addition to continuing to take care of Long Long, she will continue to complain to the procuratorate, "at least it can't be this crime, and this drug should not be defined as a drug."
(At the request of the interviewee, the names in the text are pseudonyms)
Text, picture: no | Editors: Wu Jiaxiang, Ye Zhengxing
Proofreading: Wu Yihe | Typesetting: Li Yongmin
Operation: Han Ningning | Coordinator: Wu Wei
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