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Safety concerns regarding buying prescription
medications online pharmacy revolve around
issues pertaining to your personal health, the
legality of transactions, and protection of
your personal information. Online pharmacies
provide convenience and other advantages such
as privacy and in some cases cheaper prices
compared to the traditional brick and mortar
pharmacy, but without due diligence the buying
of prescription medication online can be
fraught with a number of deleterious
pitfalls.
To ensure the safety of prescription
medications the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) requires that medications go through
safety clinical trials, and that the benefits
outweigh the risks associated with a drug
before it is approved for marketing and sale in
the United States. Unfortunately pharmacists
outside the United States that dispense drugs
manufactured outside of the United States are
not bound by federal regulations, posing a
health hazard for those who choose to purchase
from them. Because some pharmacies, even within
the United States, import and distribute
non-FDA approved drugs manufactured outside of
the country, it is important to make sure that
the online pharmacy you choose only dispenses
FDA approved prescription medications. The main
concerns about purchasing prescription
medication from rogue online pharmacies that
dispense drugs not approved by the FDA approved
are, the drugs you receive might be
counterfeit, contaminated, sub-potent, super
potent or the wrong drug, all of which could
jeopardize your health. In the worst-case
scenario, you may not receive any medication at
all despite paying for it. Therefore, it is
important to make sure that the online pharmacy
is licensed and based in the United States and
if not that it is accredited and dispenses
drugs approved by its government.
Since rogue pharmacies tend to want to be
invisible and unreachable except in cyberspace,
it is important to obtain up-to-date contact
information in the form of a physical address
and telephone number. With that information you
can attempt to obtain a Better Business Bureau
report. If a Better Business Bureau report is
not available you can then do an advanced Dun
& Bradstreet search to make sure that the
business does in fact exist. Avoid doing
business with operations that only provide you
with an e-mail address as a form of contact. In
addition to possibly precluding you from
obtaining credentials and information about
business practices, the provision of just an
e-mail address might be an indicator of the
quality of customer service you can expect or
not expect. Also obtain the license number and
any accreditation credentials from the pharmacy
then verify the information through the state
pharmacy board of the state in which the
pharmacy is based, an all important step
because some of the alleged Internet pharmacies
are not really legitimate licensed operations.
In addition to verifying license status and the
fact that the pharmacy is located in the United
States and meets quality standards, state
boards of pharmacy or the National Association
of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) can also let you
know if an online pharmacy is accredited by
Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites
(VIPPS) or other recognized accreditation
programs. VIPPS pharmacy sites can also be
identified by the VIPPS hyperlink seal
displayed on their Web sites.
Many pharmacies online advertise the filling of
prescriptions without a doctor's order which
can certainly be a health hazard if a
prescription is filled without a thorough
knowledge and understanding of your health
record. The pharmacies that do this tend to
hurdle the legal requirement of a
doctor/patient relationship by having you fill
out a questionnaire which is supposedly
reviewed with you by their doctor during a
telephone consultation. If you elect to
participate in this type of interaction and
relationship (which I do not recommend) be sure
that the pharmacy engaging in this practice is
compliant with the telemedicine laws of the
state in which it is based since the definition
of the establishment of a doctor/patient
relationship varies from state to state. Also
obtain the credentials of the doctor providing
the telephone consultation including the state
in which he or she is licensed and the license
number, then verify that information through
the medical board of the state in which the
doctor is licensed to make sure that a valid
license is held for the state in which you are
located at the time of the telephone
consultation. Otherwise the alleged
relationship established by telephone and
Internet would not be a legitimate one inasmuch
as the interaction would be tantamount to the
practice of medicine without a license. The
take-home message is avoid buying prescription
medications online without the order of a
physician who is thoroughly familiar with your
health history based not only on subjective
information, but objective data as well
including a physical examination, laboratory
tests and x-rays if warranted. A doctor's order
also prevents the unauthorized substitution of
generic prescription medication for brand-name
medication, so make sure you know whether or
not their doctor has authorized generic
substitution, and if not be sure to know what
the brand-name pill looks like before it
arrives following shipment. The best way to be
familiar with what brand-name pills look like
is to order the first prescription from a local
pharmacy and keep one or two of the pills in
their respective bottles for comparison when
your shipment arrives.
Although the legal ramifications of not being
compliant with federal and state laws regarding
the sale, importation and distribution of
pharmaceutical medications generally rest with
the pharmacy, the purchase and possession of
controlled substances such as narcotics without
a doctor’s prescription can result in legal
consequences for the buyer, depending on the
state of residence. Thus, the message is the
same. Do not buy prescription medications,
particularly controlled substances, without a
doctor's prescription. If you are elect to
purchase medication not available in the United
States and not approved by the FDA from a
foreign Internet pharmacy for treatment of a
condition for which your doctor feels it is
indicated, be sure to obtain and keep on record
a letter or note from your physician stating
that.
After you have conducted the above research and
you are satisfied with the results the final
step should be to make sure that any private
personal information submitted is protected and
that your online transactions are secure. Make
sure that the particular website has a well
stated privacy policy assuring you that your
information will not be shared with or sold to
anyone for the purpose of marketing thus making
you a target for spam e-mailing. Also make sure
that your online credit card purchase is secure
to protect yourself from identity theft. This
can generally be done by looking for the lock
icon to the right of the address bar of your
browser before entering your credit card and
other transaction information. Since credit
card transactions can never be 100% secure
because of what might happen to the information
after is retrieved from the system, it is
reasonable to find out whether or not the
pharmacy will accept other forms of payment or
even file with your insurance company.
In summary, do the necessary and appropriate
investigation of an online pharmacy before
buying medications online so as to optimize the
likelihood of a medically, legally, financially
and emotionally safe buying experience.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational
purpose only and is not intended to be legal
advice or a substitute for medical consultation
with a qualified professional. If you are
seeking legal advice or are unsure about your
medical condition you should consult an
attorney and/or physician.
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