Patients are facing shortages of prescription medications for medical conditions including RSV and ADHD, and drug costs are also skyrocketing. So, to fill a prescription these days, where do some consumers turn for solutions? Well, more and more, they are going online.
Denver resident Ali Schroer followed her doctor’s recommendation for an online pharmacy claiming to be from Canada. She ordered allergy medication from the site. “It looked exactly like what I had been taking for years and years, so I really didn’t think anything of it,” she said.
But pharmacists warn that buying medicines online can be dangerous.
“I have had the unfortunate experience of speaking to many parents who have lost children for one reason or another. They were taking medicine. They connected online or through social media. It had fentanyl in it and they never woke up,” says John. Hertig, professor of pharmacy at Butler University. “At any given time, it is estimated that there are approximately 35,000 illegal online drug sellers, and the vast majority of them sell substandard or falsified drugs in some way.”
Niamh Lewis of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy says around 20 new illegal online pharmacies are becoming active every day. “I almost hesitate to call them online pharmacies, because they’re really online drug sellers or illegal online drug sellers,” Hertig says. “We estimate that between $1 million and $2 million is generated per website per month in this space, and now [it] has overtaken other criminal activities such as human trafficking as well as illegal arms sales. In terms of financial benefits.
These drug sellers break the laws in three ways, Lewis explains. The first is to sell prescription drugs without a prescription. The second is not to hold a pharmacy license in the area where the patient resides. The last involves selling drugs that are not authorized for sale in the patient’s jurisdiction.
Law enforcement has been fighting these illegal online pharmacies for decades. In 2005, the drug agency shut down around 4,600 websites as part of Operation Cyber-X.
In 2011, Google agreed with the Justice Department to forfeit $500 million in revenue from advertisements to Canadian online pharmacies that they say illegally exported prescription drugs to the United States.
Investigations by Interpol, the international criminal police organization, have closed many online sellers. In 2017, the agency’s operations in Pangea arrested 500 people and confiscated $51 million in illegal medicines.
The FDA, for its part, regularly issues warning letters identifying illegal drug sellers.
But experts say there’s little law enforcement can do.
“It’s extremely difficult. It’s like whacking a whack-a-mole,” says Lewis of the NABP. “But the problem is much better than it was in 2011. If that’s the case, these actors are trying to find a home on the Internet, and they’re sort of being chased to the far reaches of the Internet, which which is a good thing.”
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has proposed a new law, called the DRUGS Act, that would allow the FDA to shut down websites selling drugs illegally.
Public awareness campaigns are another strategy, including a recent commercial with Danny Trejo.
Pharmacists say that 5% of online drug sales sites are legitimate.
“There are completely legitimate pharmacies that operate online. And it’s very convenient for patients, especially since the pandemic. It’s become more and more widespread, more and more common. And that’s something something that really helps people in rural areas, those who are also busy collecting their medicines,” says Lewis.
There are ways to buy medications online safely. First, check that the pharmacy you are purchasing has not been flagged as unsafe.
“NABP’s list of non-recommended sites really captures the most egregious actors. We’ve added about 200 new websites per week over the last two years,” says Lewis.
The FDA also offers a directory of state-licensed online pharmacies.
Accredited online sellers, such as major retailers, can provide a convenient and cost-effective way to get the medications you need safely. So do small businesses, like Alto Pharmacy.
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