Sale of dieting drug linked to deaths to carry 100-times harsher penalties

The penalty for putting it in a product will be a jail term of 5-20 years and a fine of Bt500,000-Bt2 million, while those manufacturing, importing or exporting sibutramine-laced products for commercial gain will face a jail term of 7-20 years and a fine of Bt700,000-Bt2 million. 
Sale of sibutramine products to the public will attract a jail term of 4-20 years and/or a fine of Bt400,000-Bt2 million. Criminal charges could be brought in cases of death by sibutramine poisoning.
The chemical's previous status as a dangerous drug came with punishment of two years in prison and/or up to Bt20,000 in fine for violators.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s proposal to upgrade sibutramine was approved by the Psychotropic Substances Committee yesterday, said deputy permanent secretary for public health Dr Thares Karasnairaviwong. The FDA would pass the decision on to the Public Health Minister for signing by July.
Earlier this year, police and FDA officials cracked down on food supplement products that allegedly contained sibutramine – including Lyn weight-loss pills that police alleged had led to the deaths of four users. One of those victims was a 31-year-old Kanchanaburi woman whose March 28 death was confirmed by autopsy last month as stemming from sibutramine poisoning.
FDA deputy chief Dr Surachoke Tangwiwat said the agency didn’t allow the use of sibutramine in any medicinal formula, hence such status upgrading would not affect any medicine. The Psychotropic Substances Committee also assigned legal experts to study the feasibility of punishing those who added medicine to food supplement products under the Medicine Act 1968, which would yield harsher punishments than the Food Act 1979 that is currently applied in such cases.