Medicines can save lives only if they are safe, efficacious, of good quality, and affordable. The use of unsafe, substandard, ineffective, and counterfeit drugs can be harmful to the health of the users and the public. Governments have an obligation to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of the drugs available to the public by regulating the manufacturing and distribution of drugs and by exercising legal power to control the proliferation of unsafe counterfeit medicines.