Health Times reporter Chen Linhui
At 9 o'clock on March 18, the family of the children with epilepsy who had attracted much attention purchased and managed the drug Chlorbachan on behalf of the family of the children with epilepsy, and was tried at the Zhongmu County People's Court in Zhengzhou City on suspicion of smuggling, trafficking, transporting and manufacturing drugs. Previously, the mothers of four children with rare epilepsy in Zhongmu County were identified by the Zhongmu County Procuratorate as smuggling drugs for helping the "Iron Horse Glacier" collect the clobazan package purchased overseas, and in the end, the procuratorate did not prosecute the four children's mothers for committing a minor crime.
In this case, the purchaser "Iron Horse Glacier" is the only criminal suspect who has been prosecuted for drug trafficking. In addition to the purchasing status, the "Iron Horse Glacier" itself is also the father of a child with a rare epilepsy disease, and the child is also taking clobats. Since being taken from his home in July 2021, he has been detained for more than eight months.
In the trial, whether the purchase of clobarcan in this case is a drug or a "drug" has also become the focus of controversy in the trial.
Overseas purchasing of chlorpachan is suspected of "drug trafficking", and about 1500 children who need to take clobatjan drugs to control seizures are on the verge of "drug discontinuation". Qilu Evening News Li Jing, Li Yansong / Photo
Purchased the drug Clobarzan and was accused of drug smuggling
On July 5, 2021, defendant Hu Moumou, whose online name "Iron Horse Glacier", was criminally detained by the Zhongmu County Public Security Bureau and was arrested on August 11, 2021 on suspicion of drug smuggling. The Health Times reporter checked the case materials and found that there were children of minors with epilepsy in Hu's family, and Hu was in the process of purchasing drugs for his daughter, contacting the people who sold chlorambuzan abroad. According to the case materials, "Hou Hu moumou illegally engaged in the purchase of chlorambu and Xi Baoning for profit, that is, purchased from abroad at a low price, and sold to the families of people with epilepsy through The WeChat group after the price increase." ”
Case materials show that in foreign countries, the price of a box of chlorpachia is 250 yuan to 300 yuan, according to the specifications of the drug, there are different numbers of patients each time to buy, "Iron Horse Glacier" at a price of 350 yuan to 450 yuan per box for resale.
On July 4, 2021, the public security police seized 105,000 mg of chlorappa smuggled by Hu Moumou. After appraisal, the drug seized from Hu Moumou detected the composition of chlorphazhan: According to the "Dependency Conversion Table of 100 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Controlled Varieties" issued by the Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission, 105,000 mg of chlorpaljan was converted into 10.5 mg of heroin. Based on this, the Zhongmu Procuratorate determined that the "Iron Horse Glacier" should be investigated for criminal responsibility for smuggling and trafficking in drugs.
Clopazan is a broad-spectrum anti-epileptic drug for the treatment of such rare diseases, and a 2013 paper published in the China Journal of New Drugs by Gao Junwei of the Department of Pharmacy of the First People's Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University pointed out that since the 1980s, clopazan has been used as an anti-epileptic drug in more than 100 countries.
However, according to the Catalogue of Psychotropic Substances (2013 Edition), clopa is a second-class psychotropic drug in mainland China and has not been approved for marketing and sales in China. According to a "Notice of Dependence Conversion Table for 100 Controlled Varieties of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances" issued by the Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission in 2017, 1 gram of clopajan is equivalent to 0.1 mg of heroin.
The Drug Administration Law stipulates that the state implements special management measures for psychotropic substances and carries out control. Except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, no unit or individual may carry out activities such as the cultivation of raw plants for the medicinal use of narcotic drugs, as well as the experimental research, production, operation, use, storage, or transportation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
The parents of the children's patients initiate a joint request
Before the trial of the case, in a group of patients with epilepsy, the group leader "Songsong Daddy" initiated a joint request for the "Iron Horse Glacier" and submitted it to the Zhongmu County Court. The joint letter mentions that those who received the medicines have also received help from the "Iron Horse Glacier", which they believe is not a person who smuggles and sells drugs, nor is it a lawbreaker. Before the trial, the joint appeals of the 132 families of the children were also submitted to the court, and in the eyes of the patients, the "iron horse glacier" was like them, "just a father of the child, not a drug dealer".
"We only bought clopazan for the treatment of our children." The group leader "Songsong Dad" previously said in an interview with Health Times that we are willing to buy drugs legally and accept supervision, and in fact, every parent of a child is not willing to risk "breaking the law" to obtain these life-saving drugs.
In December 2021, more than 1,600 families of children with rare diseases jointly asked the society for help from the controlled drug Chlorpazam, calling for the establishment of a green channel for drug purchase, or other more feasible drug purchase methods, to solve the difficult problem of drug discontinuation in children.
The legal nature of the case is the focus of characterization
At the trial, whether the "chlorambuzan" involved in the case belonged to drugs or drugs was still the focus of dispute between the prosecution and defense, and the prosecution insisted that the "iron horse glacier" behavior constituted a drug crime. The defense lawyers of "Iron Horse Glacier" believe that according to the Minutes of the National Symposium on the Trial of Drug Crimes in Courts issued by the Supreme People's Court in 2015, the flow and use of drugs should be ascertained, if they are used for normal medical purposes, they are drugs; if they are abused as drug substitutes, it may be drugs. This case is clearly a normal medical use and should be a medicine.
"At the heart of the case is whether the legal nature of the drug clobarcan is a drug or a drug, which depends on the use and flow of the drug." Lawyer Zhan Shuguang, a senior partner at Beijing Xinnuo Law Firm, said that the Supreme People's Court's Criminal Trial Reference Case No. 1057 raised the question of "how to characterize the illegal production and operation of tramadol hydrochloride, a second-class psychotropic substance controlled by the state", which held that the illegal production and sale of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances controlled by the state must be convicted by manufacturing and purchasing drugs, and the following conditions must be met at the same time: The defendant knew that the manufacturing and trafficking of psychotropic drugs was a psychotropic substance, and manufactured. The purpose of trafficking is to use them as a substitute for drugs, not as medicines for medical purposes;
Lawyer Zhan Shuguang believes that the defendant in this case, Hu Moumou, is using the drugs involved in the case as drugs for medical purposes, rather than as a substitute for drugs, moreover, the chlorambuzan involved in this case is relatively special, the molecular formula and chemical properties are very different from heroin, and in practice, there is no case of chlorpalocan as a substitute for drugs, which is essentially a self-help and mutual assistance behavior of patients, and the qualitative "drugs" are controversial, and the court in this case has not pronounced a judgment in court.
"Psychotropic drugs are indeed addictive and will have a great impact on the human body, so the control of such drugs is indeed relatively strict." Kang Zhen, deputy director of the National Licensed Pharmacist Development Research Center of China Pharmaceutical University, said in an interview with the Health Times reporter that it cannot be denied that some patients do need to take such drugs, and it is recommended that the relevant departments of the state establish a green channel, apply to the relevant government departments by the hospital, and then authorize the relevant enterprises and hospitals from the national level, give them a certain special channel procurement right, and according to the actual needs, the corresponding procurement amount is stipulated, put into the national relevant drug library, to ensure the use of such children.