Prescriptions Being Filled Online
Many People Turning to the Internet to Obtain Needed Drugs
People in need of medication are turning to the Internet to help fill their prescriptions. Internet users can now buy drugs online without a doctor’s visit, not unlike buying them off the street. However, it is often pharmacists and doctors who are selling the medications.
Growing In Popularity
The value of possessions confiscated from drug investigations has jumped from approximately $12 million to $39 million dollars from 2004 to 2007. Popular search engines including Google, Yahoo! and AOL teamed up with the DEA to create pop up warnings that appear when such sites are searched. Between 2005 and 2007, the warning was said to pop up about 80 million times.
All people need is a credit card and shipping address, and they can have the drugs of their choice shipped to them in as quick as 24 hours. These prescriptions come with a doctor’s name and pharmacy printed on the label, even if the purchaser has never talked to or met with either one.
The Risks
The only drug off limits to these more than 80 sites are narcotics. Not only is it illegal for doctors to prescribe medicine to patients they have never met across state lines, but it is also illegal for pharmacies in most states to ship prescriptions to states in which they are not licensed. Another concern is what kind of people are buying these drugs. If they are depressed or suicidal, certain people should not have access to this easy method of drug purchasing.
Though there is no total count as to how many people have overdosed or committed suicide with these drugs, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy have asked Congress to get involved in taking down these sites. However, Congress is unwilling to take any steps forward until there is evidence that people are dying from drugs purchased online.
How It Works
Meanwhile, the creators of these websites are getting rich from their businesses and not all of them are doctors. Some buy low-cost drugs manufactured by the FDA overseas and sell them online, sometimes from their homes. Though this is considered illegal, since the 1980s, it has become legal for certain cases to purchase medications that are not available in the United States. There are guidelines to this rule however, such as the patient cannot buy more than a 90 days' supplies worth and must be under the care of an American doctor.
These websites also offer cheap prices to fill these prescriptions, offering as much as an 80 percent discount. However, this does not always mean that what the purchaser is getting is safe. But for some, it’s their only outlet.
