Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports of the illegal selling of weight loss drugs.

The Department for Health and Social Care are responsible for policy on human medicines, and the illegal sale and supply of human medicines is recognised as a significant challenge for regulators across the world. Buying medicines, including weight loss medicines, from illegally trading websites can be harmful to health, as the medicines received are generally unlicensed in the United Kingdom, and can contain too little, too much, or incorrect active ingredients.

Some weight-loss medicines (such as Phentermine) are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and therefore a person unlawfully possessing, supplying or producing would be subject to the appropriate penalties. Further information about these penalties can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing.

This Government understands the dangers that counterfeit, and illegally imported, drugs can cause. This is why law enforcement agencies, and other partners, work around the clock to stop and intercept illegal products from crossing our borders.