For most of us, even
our spam filters cannot stop all of the email we
get advertising "You can now order prescription
medication on the internet without a
prescription." Even a simple web
search will reveal literally hundreds of sites
that advertise prescription drugs-often without a
prescription. The Treatment Research
Institute, a Philadelphia-based not-for-profit
organization, found 300 different internet
pharmacies offering Oxycontin and Vicodin--without
a prescription.
The prices advertised by
these sites are normally higher than you would pay
at your local pharmacy. Of course, if your
doctor has declined to authorize a refill of
OxyContin and you are addicted, then the price is
not a consideration-you have to feed your
habit.
There are no controls
stopping the sale of these drugs to children.
According to a February report by the White House
Office on National Drug Control Policy, new
abusers of prescription drugs have caught up with
new users of marijuana. Many teens and
adults are increasingly turning away from illicit
drugs and abusing prescription drugs, in large
part because they are widely viewed as safer to
use and easier to obtain.
Another group that
resorts to these internet pharmacies are people
who have seen ads on television for a drug and,
not being able to get a doctor to prescribe it,
have decided to self-medicate and order it without
a prescription.
Apparently, some internet
pharmacies are going even more high-tech and
offering refills through text messages sent to
their cell phones. If the customer texts
acceptance, then the refill is charged to the cell
phone as a custom ring tone.
In May of 2007,
the National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse (CASA) located at Columbia University
published a white paper titled, "You've Got
Drugs!" IV: Prescription Drug Pushers on the
Internet" which found a total of 581 Web
sites advertising or selling controlled
prescription drugs in 2007 compared to 342 sites
in 2006.
"The easy
availability of addictive opioids, depressants and
stimulants has, for many children, made the
Internet a greater threat than the illegal street
drug dealer," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's
chair and president and former U.S. Secretary of
Health, Education, and Welfare. "The Internet has
become a pharmaceutical candy store stocked with
addictive drugs, available at the click of a mouse
to any kid with a credit card number."
Other findings in the
white paper include:
* 84 percent of sites
selling these drugs did not require a
prescription.
* Of the 16 percent that claimed
to require a prescription, most (57 percent)
simply ask that it be faxed, allowing a customer
to forge it or use the same prescription many
times to load up on these drugs.
* Over the
past four years, the number of sites selling
controlled prescription drugs has increased
steadily from 154 in 2004 and 2005 to 187 in 2007.
* Benzodiazepines (Xanax and Valium) continue
to be the most frequently offered controlled
prescription drug, sold on 79 percent of the
sites; followed by opioids (Vicodin and OxyContin)
on 64 percent of the sites.
Unfortunately, many
criminals have decided that there is not enough
money in selling medications without
prescriptions. These criminals have
determined that people seeking to purchase drugs
without a prescription can be sold counterfeit
drugs. These are drugs that may include some
of the ingredients of the real drugs but are
created in unsanitary third-world locations by
unskilled workers.
Mark Anthony Kolowich
recently pled guilty to conspiring to sell
counterfeit medications, commit mail fraud, import
unapproved drugs, smuggle medications into the
United States and conspiracy to launder money.
Kolwich owned World Express RX, one of the largest
internet pharmacies.
Consumers looking to
obtain drugs either less expensively or without
bothering to obtain a prescription could just go
to www.WorldExpressRx.com and order prescription drugs
without having a prior prescription. While
the website charged each customer a $35 fee for a
doctor to review a medical history form and issue
a prescription, there was no doctor and no
prescription.
However, this was not
just a case of getting drugs without a
prescription. The drugs received by the
consumer were supposedly "generic" versions but
were actually, in many cases, counterfeit drugs
produced in crude, non-sterile rooms.
Another indictment
was of Jared Wheat and Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. Wheat and his conspirators were selling
some legitimate prescription drugs but
also were producing counterfeit drugs in
non-sterile locations in Central America,
packaging them to look like the real drugs and
selling them at lower prices to unwitting
consumers.
There is new
legislation being introduced that will seek to set
higher penalties for these internet pharmacies
selling drugs without a prescription.
However, since many of the internet pharmacies
obtain their drugs legally, why not go to the drug
companies that make these drugs and require them
to disclose to whom they sell?
If this was done, most of
these internet pharmacies might not be in business
to feed addictions. Wouldn't it be better if
people were forced to confront their addiction and
go to a medical detox like Novus where addicts can
actually start on the path to handle their
problem-not feed it?
