The Dangers of Buying Drugs Online

The recent explosion of online pharmacies has happened, in part, because of the illicit demand for prescription drugs. The ease with which serious prescription medications can be obtained sans prescription through these internet distributors is truly alarming. However, purchasing prescription medications via the Internet is a sketchy proposition at best.

Purchasing prescription medications online is dangerous. For starters, medicines purchased this way may be past their expiration dates. Secondly, the chemical composition and dosages of the medications may be inconsistent from pill to pill. Worse, they may not even contain the active ingredient you believe you are purchasing. Instead, the pills may be loaded with any number of horrific ‘filler’ ingredients. Experts who investigate these charlatan pharmacies report that 33 percent of all Internet pharmacy medications are counterfeits.

The person who needs heart medication needs the true ingredient and needs it in careful dosages. Taking something wholly other than what the doctor prescribed is like playing roulette. Prescription medications require physician involvement for a reason. These are powerful drugs which can produce any number of serious effects. Some drug dosages must be gradually increased and/or decreased over time. Sudden starts and stops with these medications can lead to serious repercussions. Other drugs can cause depression and need medical oversight.

Many drugs become dangerous when they are mixed with other prescription medications. Physicians are acquainted with these interactions and will be able to prescribe for individual patients based upon any other medications they may currently be taking.

While most countries strictly regulate the sale of these medications, law enforcement has a hard time catching up with these pop-up pharmacies which are here one day, disappear the next, and resurface with a new IP the day after. Many of these bogus online pharmacies are located overseas where there may be less vigilance and where our country has no authority to prosecute anyway.

Not every online pharmacy is shady, but how will you know if you are buying from a legitimate pharmacy or a criminal from another country? Here are a few ways to be alert to the danger:

1. Avoid making purchases from any online pharmacy which only lists an email address under contact information.
2. If the prices seem too good to be true – then they probably are.
3. Watch out for an online pharmacy that does not have an available pharmacist who can answer your questions.
4. Online pharmacies which advertise their willingness to sell prescription medications without a medical prescription should certainly raise the alarm. Even if they require completion of a health form – if they do not ask for your doctor’s prescription, beware. Selling these medications without a prescription is against the law.

Perhaps the biggest customers for these unethical pharmacies are people addicted to prescription medications. People who are addicted to substances behave in ways that they otherwise would not and often in ways that put them at tremendous risk, like buying prescription medications from an illegitimate online pharmacy.