The Truth About Online Pharmacies

Safety concerns regarding buying medicines online pharmacy revolve around issues associated with your personal health, the legality of transactions, and protection of your personal information. Online pharmacies provide convenience and other advantages such as privacy as well as in some instances cheaper prices when compared with the traditional local pharmacy, but without due diligence the buying of prescription medication online can be fraught with a number of deleterious pitfalls.

To be certain the security of prescribed drugs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that medications proceed through safety clinical trials, and that the benefits outweigh the risks related to a drug before it is approved for marketing and sale within the united states. Unfortunately pharmacists outside the usa that dispense drugs manufactured outside of the us are not bound by federal regulations, posing a health hazard for those which choose to purchase from them. Because some pharmacies, even in the USA, import and distribute non-FDA approved drugs manufactured outside of the country, it is necessary to make sure that the on-line pharmacy you choose only dispenses FDA approved prescription drugs. The main concerns about purchasing prescription medication from rogue online pharmacies that dispense drugs not approved through the FDA approved are, the drugs you get may be counterfeit, contaminated, sub-potent, super potent or the wrong drug, all of which could jeopardize your health. Within the worst-case scenario, you might not receive any medication at all despite paying for it. Because of this, it is essential to ensure that the online pharmacy is licensed and based inside the usa and if not which 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's important to get up-to-date contact information in the form of a physical address and telephone number. With that information you may try to obtain a more suitable Business Bureau report. If a far better Business Bureau report is not available you may then do a sophisticated Dun & Bradstreet search to ensure that the business does in fact exist. Avoid conducting business with operations that only provide you can try these out with an e-mail address as a form of contact. Along with possibly precluding you from obtaining credentials and information about business practices, the provision of just an e-mail address could possibly be an indicator of the quality of customer service you may expect or not expect. Also obtain the license number and any accreditation credentials from the pharmacy then verify the information over the state pharmacy board of the region by which the pharmacy is based, an all important step because several of the alleged Internet pharmacies aren't actually legitimate licensed operations. Together with verifying license status as well as the fact that the pharmacy is located within the usa and meets quality standards, state boards of pharmacy or perhaps the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) also can let you know if an online pharmacy is accredited by Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) or other recognized accreditation programs. VIPPS pharmacy sites also can be identified by the VIPPS hyperlink seal displayed on their own Internet sites.

Many pharmacies online advertise the filling of prescriptions without a doctor's order that can definitely be a health hazard if a prescription is filled without having a thorough knowledge and understanding of your health record. The pharmacies that do this usually 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 phone consultation. If you elect to participate in this particular type of interaction and relationship (which I do not recommend) make certain that the pharmacy engaging in this practice is compliant with the telemedicine laws of their state through which it really is based since the definition of the establishment of a doctor/patient relationship varies from one state to another. Also obtain the credentials of the physician providing the phone consultation including the state through which he or she is licensed as well as the license number, then verify that information through the medical board of their state in which the doctor is licensed to make certain that a valid license is held for the state through which you are located during the time of the phone 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 with no license. The take-home message is avoid buying medications online without the order of a health care provider who is completely experienced with your health history based not simply on subjective information, but objective data also 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 their doctor has authorized generic substitution, and if not make 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 appear like is to order the first prescription from a local pharmacy and keep one or two of the pills within 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 with no doctor's prescription can cause legal consequences for the buyer, determined by the region of residence. Thus, the message will be the same. Do not buy drugs, particularly controlled substances, without having a doctor's prescription. If you're elect to purchase medication not available in the us and not approved through the FDA from a foreign Internet pharmacy for treatment of a condition for which your physician feels it is indicated, make sure to obtain and keep on record a letter or note from your physician stating that.

After you have conducted the aforementioned research and also you are satisfied with the outcome the final step must be to make sure that any private private information submitted is protected and that your online transactions are secure. Make certain that the particular website has a well stated privacy policy assuring you that your particular 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 the online credit-card purchase is secure to protect yourself from identity theft. This may generally be completed by trying to find the lock icon to the right of the address bar of your browser before entering your credit card as well as other transaction information. Since card transactions can never be 100% secure because of what might happen to the information after is retrieved from the system, it really is reasonable to discover whether or not the pharmacy will accept other kinds of payment or maybe file with your insurance coverage company.

To summarize, do the required 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.