Prescription Drugs Without a Prescription: The Bahamas Pharmacy Probe

What the Tribune undercover investigation found

In early 2026 The Tribune published an investigation into how prescription medicines are bought and sold in The Bahamas. On August 8, 2025, an undercover operative walked into three New Providence pharmacies in under 90 minutes and left with powerful antibiotics, without presenting a prescription; two of those locations also supplied pain relievers¹. A follow-up ran on January 22, 23 and 26, 2026: across 10 pharmacies, two of them visited the previous August, the operative obtained the requested drugs in 8 of 13 encounters. In one case a stronger drug was recommended and dispensed; four pharmacies refused outright¹. The newspaper could not confirm whether the people dispensing were licensed pharmacists¹.

The reporting went beyond the pharmacy counter. Antibiotics, pain relievers, abortion pills and skin-bleaching creams were described as entering through official ports and through travellers, some hidden in spices or benign packaging, with many products appearing to come from unverified manufacturers. The Tribune also documented inadequate labelling and dosage errors, including a patient who received the wrong dose with no label and a receipt that misnamed the drug¹.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness response

The Ministry of Health and Wellness called the practices "unlawful" and "unsafe" and said they pose a serious risk to public health². Its statement said that "prescription medicines are regulated for specific purposes and are guided and guarded by regulated protocols," that legislative changes are being advanced to modernise outdated and fragmented pharmaceutical laws, and that it is working with the Bahamas Pharmacy Council and other agencies to investigate illegal dispensing². ZNS reported the ministry's warning that when antibiotics and strong pain relievers are dispensed without medical oversight, "patients are placed at risk of adverse drug reactions, incorrect dosing, treatment failure"⁴.

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville told The Tribune: "we have been plagued with this situation for decades," and "the only way that we can begin to address the situation is through legislative reform." He singled out antibiotics because of antimicrobial resistance and raised concerns about counterfeits¹.

No national drug registration system

Dr Archer said this limits what regulators can lawfully do about imports from unauthorised sources, and described penalties under legacy laws such as the Penicillin Act as "minimal" and not "an effective deterrent in today's market"¹². She said a Medical Products Bill is nearing completion; according to The Tribune it is meant to set clear legal authority over which medicines may enter the country, who may import and distribute them, and how violations are investigated and penalised. At the time of publication it had not been tabled¹.

The gap had been flagged months earlier. In an October 2025 letter to The Tribune, a pharmacist wrote that "The Bahamas is a non-registration market," where imports can occur "without local product registration or batch testing," and called for "A drug registration system that requires all products entering the market to be approved and traceable" and a testing facility to detect counterfeit or substandard drugs⁵. Former council chairman Phillip Gray told The Tribune the country lacks pharmacovigilance, one of only three in the region without it². Regionally, Barbados passed a bill in 2026 creating the Barbados Medical Products Authority, which consolidates regulation of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and medical devices under a single framework across the product lifecycle, with PAHO support¹².

What the Pharmacy Act already says

The existing law is not silent. The Pharmacy Act, 2009 (Chapter 227) establishes the Bahamas Pharmacy Council (section 3) to regulate and control the practice of pharmacy (section 4)⁶. Key provisions:

• Registered premises only. No person may operate a pharmacy unless it is registered under the Act (section 6(1)); registration lasts one year (section 6(5)) and can be suspended or revoked (section 8)⁶.
• Who may dispense. No person may compound, dispense, retail or store for sale any drug unless it is done on premises registered as a pharmacy and by a registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician (section 24(1))⁶.
• Prescriptions. Only persons authorised under a licence may write or issue a prescription (section 30(1)), and every pharmacist must ensure the prescription carries the genuine signature of the issuing practitioner (section 30(4))⁶.
• Internet pharmacy. "No person shall establish or engage in the practise of internet pharmacy in any form" (section 25(3))⁶.
• Quality and imports. Drugs manufactured, sold, imported or exported must meet a prescribed international pharmacopoeia standard (section 27(1)); breaches carry a fine of up to $20,000 on information (section 27(2)); importation is governed by the Customs Management Act (section 28)⁶.
• Default penalty. Where no penalty is stated, an offence carries a fine of up to $10,000 on summary conviction (section 49)⁶.

The 2025 health package added a separate reform track. A Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was one of five health bills debated in Parliament in July 2025¹⁰, and the Prime Minister told the House the Pharmacy Bill, 2025 would allow "secure electronic prescription systems that reduce errors and prevent fraud"⁹.

The profession reacts

Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association president Dr Marvin Smith issued a blunt warning: "If you're doing it, stop it," adding that "The BPA will not protect you, will not hide you, will not cover for you." He said "since 2009 we have not had a single full time inspector appointed" and that the BPA will forward customer complaints to the Pharmacy Council⁴. He told The Tribune that current inspectors are part-time pharmacists employed by pharmacies and called for independent inspectors¹. Former Council chairman Barbara Wilson launched a flyer and social-media awareness campaign with several pharmacies, saying "It's been pretty unregulated and I believe the time has come"³.

Why physicians should care

The Bahamas is not an outlier. A systematic review of 38 studies from 24 countries found that the pooled proportion of non-prescription antibiotic supply in community pharmacies was 62 %, rising to 78 % when the patient asked for one; the authors warned this overuse could drive antibiotic resistance⁷. After a February 2026 epidemiological alert on misuse of GLP-1 medicines¹¹, PAHO urged countries in March to strengthen pharmacovigilance and supply-chain oversight, warning that products bought through unofficial channels may be falsified or substandard⁸. Without registration, batch testing or pharmacovigilance, a Bahamian physician cannot easily know what a patient actually took¹⁵.