Copyright bbc
Russians regularly receive prison sentences for purchasing and reselling Molecule pills. But it's proving difficult for authorities to get a grip on the drug being sold illegally. In April, the government-backed Safe Internet League reported the growing trend involving young people to the authorities - prompting several major online marketplaces to remove Molecule from sale. But it soon began appearing online under a new name, Atom, in near-identical packaging. A law was recently passed allowing authorities to block websites selling "unregistered dietary supplements" without a court order - but sellers have been getting around this by categorising them as "sports nutrition" instead. On TikTok, you can find retailers selling Molecule under listings that look like they are for muesli, biscuits and even lightbulbs. And some retailers aren't even trying to hide it any more. A few weeks ago, the BBC found Molecule listings on a popular Russian online marketplace. When approached for comment, the site said it had promptly removed any products containing sibutramine. But it admitted it was difficult to find and remove listings that didn't explicitly mention sibutramine. If you do manage to get your hands on Molecule, it's hard to know exactly what you're getting - and it's unclear where the pills are being manufactured. The BBC found some sellers with production certificates from factories in Guangzhou and Henan, in China. Others claim to be sourcing the pills from Germany. Some packets state they were produced in Remagen in Germany - but the BBC has discovered there is no such company listed at the address given. Certain Kazakh vendors selling Molecule to Russians told the BBC they bought stock from friends or warehouses in the capital Astana but couldn't name the original supplier.
