Buying Medicine Online

Buyer Beware: Protect Yourself When Buying Medications Online

What are the dangers of obtaining a prescription for medicine over the Internet?

1. Harmful effects: Some medicines can be dangerous if not taken with ongoing medical supervision. For this reason, most law enforcement authorities and professional health care organizations advise doctors against prescribing medicine online and caution patients against obtaining prescriptions online, except from sites such as NABP’s VIPPS-accredited pharmacies. This practice is illegal in some states, unless the prescription is written by a doctor who knows the patient’s medical history and previously has examined the patient in-person.
   
   Completing only an online questionnaire does not establish a valid doctor-patient relationship. More importantly, without a physical examination you could receive medicine that is not right for your condition, worsen your medical condition, or cause a serious underlying medical condition to be overlooked or misdiagnosed.
   
   
2. Drug interactions: Some medicines, in combination with other drugs you might be taking, can compound or inhibit the effects of either or both drugs, leading to a toxic combination or cancelling out the effects of needed medicines. For this reason, it is important to discuss taking prescription medicine with a doctor who is familiar with your medical history and has performed an in-person examination.
   
    
3. Questionable professional practices: Many Internet drug outlets operate without a license or in conflict with the laws and regulations created to ensure patient safety. Furthermore, some of the medicines being sold on these Web sites may be too strong, too weak, fake, expired, stolen, diluted, or impure. Frequently, deceived patients notify us that they have not received the medicines they ordered, or that the site operators refuse to remove credit card charges. Many also complain that they are unable to contact anyone at the organization; phone lines are disconnected, no one answers, or no phone number is provided.
   
   
4. Risk to personal, medical, or financial information: Many illegitimate Internet drug outlets do not protect customers’ personal information with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption, leaving your medical and financial information vulnerable to anyone who might want to use it for their own gain.  Furthermore, evidence indicates that illegitimate prescribing outlets frequently sell their customer lists to other illegitimate online drug outlets and operators of Internet scam and pornography sites.
   
   By buying drugs from an illegitimate Internet outlet, you may be identifying yourself as someone who is a good target for rip-off schemes.
   
   
5. Counterfeit drugs: The World Health Organization estimates that medicines purchased over the Internet from outlets that conceal their actual physical address are counterfeit in over 50% of cases. Worldwide counterfeit drug sales are increasing at nearly twice the pace of legitimate drug sales, estimated at 13% annually by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, and will expand to a $75 billion industry by 2010.
   
   Many counterfeit drugs are manufactured in Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European countries. The content of counterfeit drugs ranges from crude mixtures of glue, chalk, and sugar to nearly exact chemical replicas of complex medicines. Because these drugs are neither properly produced nor regulated, it is nearly impossible for patients to know exactly what they are getting.
   
   If you unknowingly receive counterfeit medicine, not only do you not receive the benefits of the medicine you need, but you also could place your health at risk from unsafe ingredients.

 What are the signs of a questionably operating Internet drug outlet?

1. No prescription required: Internet drug outlets are suspect if they dispense prescription medicine without requiring the patient or doctor to submit a prescription, or without contacting the patient’s doctor to obtain a valid prescription.
   
   
2. Prescription based solely upon online questionnaire: Be wary of Internet drug outlets that dispense prescription medicines based solely on the patient completing an online questionnaire without having a pre-existing relationship with the doctor, including an in-person physical examination. Most state boards of pharmacy, boards of medicine, the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federation of State Medical Boards, the American Medical Association, and NABP agree that this practice is illegal or fails to meet the standard of care.
   
   
3. No phone number or street address: Internet drug outlets should have a toll-free phone number as well as a street address posted on their Web sites. Drug outlets that allow customers to communicate with them only by e-mail should be avoided.
   
   
4. No pharmacist consultation: Legitimate pharmacies allow patients to contact pharmacists if they have questions about their medications, whether by phone or secure Web-based communication.
   
   
5. Waivers: Legitimate pharmacies do not require patients to sign waivers to place the patient in legal jeopardy or waive all rights before providing medication.
   
   
6. Limited medicines: Many untrustworthy Internet drug outlets offer only a limited number of medicines, particularly “lifestyle” or controlled substance medicines that treat such conditions as impotence, obesity, herpes, pain, and acne.
   
   
7. International Web sites: Because foreign medicines purchased online are unapproved and not subject to the safety and efficacy standards of the US Food and Drug Administration, their authenticity, purity, and safety are unknown. The safety and security of the sources from which these Web outlets obtain foreign medicines is also unknown. Some Web outlets that claim to be Canadian pharmacies actually sell medicines obtained from developing countries in Asia, Central America, the Middle East, or Eastern Europe, where regulations are more lax, and the prevalence of counterfeit medicines is significantly higher than in the United States.
   
   
8. Spam solicitations: Many Internet operations that advertise through unsolicited e-mail messages (ie, spam) operate illegally and are not a trustworthy source for obtaining anything, especially something as critical as prescription medicine. According to the Federal Trade Commission, spam e-mails can infect computers with spyware that can slow computer performance, install software that can record and report a customer’s every keystroke, spread computer viruses, and “hijack” a consumer’s computer to distribute more spam. Deceptive spam is also sometimes used to trick consumers into divulging sensitive or personal information, including credit card numbers and other financial data.

• Internet Pharmacies
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  • LegitScript
• Why "Not Recommended"?
• Buyer Beware: Protect Yourself from Illicit Sellers
• Avoid Counterfeit Drug Scams
  • Counterfeit Drug Identification Checklist
  • How to Report Suspected Counterfeits
  • FDA Information on Counterfeits
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