Sunday, October 18, 2009

Buying My Medication Online is More Than Safe, Right?

To many, buying prescription drugs online is appealing. Its easy, its private, and you don’t even have to leave your home! However there can be disadvantages if you are not careful. We are lucky to have the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) who has recently put out a brochure to help with consumer safety when buying online. Some of the problems with buying online are as with any website when buying online you run the risk of your information being leaked, many sites will sell you drugs without a prescription or even knowing your medical concern, and the biggest problem is the meds may not be reliable. It is very possible and even probable that going to a website that is not accredited you may end up with fake, under or over therapeutic index, expired, or drugs not approved by the FDA.
Now that you know the issues, what can you do? Well, fortunately there is a program called VIPPS that essentially accredits websites so consumers can make sure that the website pharmacy is legal and honest. VIPPS stands for Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site. If a website has applied for this program and is approved they will display the VIPPS seal, as seen below.


You can also check the sites with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy at http://www.nabp.net/. The NABP site is easy to navigate through and even divides the “internet pharmacies” into Recommended Internet Pharmacies which comply with their policies and procedures and have gone though their accreditation process and Not Recommended Sites.
Something also indicative of a good site to use is one that provides a pharmacist to answer your questions there online, however using this credential alone is not a good idea, it should be used along with the above stated credentials.
In their brochure, the FDA also recommends that before taking any drug for the first time, see you primary care physician.

Below is a link to a news video talking about the importance of buying drugs safely online.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNy8UhR-Yw
http://www.nabp.net/
http://vipps.nabp.net/verify.asp
Sources:
http://www.fda/

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4 comments:

  1. David MotwaniOctober 25, 2009 at 10:08 PM

    Thanks for the precautions about buying online. There are so many different internet pharmacies these day, many overseas,that sell drugs with or without a prescription. One must know how to spot real from fake. Really, it seems that buying from online pharmacies is a bad idea but if the FDA does give some oversight, then there is at least some assurance. Great job on the blog.

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  2. Pharmocology in Nursing 2009October 27, 2009 at 6:24 AM

    Whats also more suprising is how easy it seems to buy controled substances, like narcotics, online. That alone should be a warning to people to buy thier drugs carefully online. David, have you ever purchased medicine online? How was your experience if so.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 27, 2009 at 5:32 PM

    great info. i am cautious of buying anything on line. this is great ways to ease some of my fears. thanks

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  4. Pharmocology in Nursing 2009October 29, 2009 at 2:18 PM

    Anonymous, I'm glad we could help educate you, we often fear the unknown, but it is important to always stay alert and ask questions. Would you ever consider buying medication online yourself?

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