Despite the increasing popularity of online shopping, many people still hesitate to use the Internet to fill their medical prescriptions. Because using one batch of fake or low-quality medication can be potentially dangerous to your health, it’s only natural to fear buying drugs from pharmacies you have never been to. The fact that many online pharmacies that offer the best selection of products at the lowest prices are located abroad only makes buying prescription drugs on the Internet even more difficult. The truth is that there is no right answer to whether buying medication online is safe. It all comes down to learning the difference between legitimate online pharmacies and fake pharmacies that operate as illegal pill mills. Shopping as an educated consumer is always the best way to avoid fraud and other problems.
The Basics of Using Legitimate Online Pharmacies
Because different types of drugs have different requirements, the first thing you need to determine is whether you can purchase your medication online without breaking any laws. In general, you can purchase any over-the-counter products on the Internet without questioning the legality of your transaction. When you buy drugs online, on the other hand, is a completely different process. By law, you need to have a current prescription from a doctor in order to get it filled at an online pharmacy. You need your doctor’s written permission to get your prescription filled at a traditional pharmacy, so it makes perfect sense that legitimate online pharmacies would need to legally follow the same procedures. That’s why it’s important to avoid any online pharmacies that don’t require your doctor’s permission to sell you prescription medication. Another warning sign you need to look out for is access to fake online consultations. Some pharmacies try to get around the law that requires patients to have prescriptions from their doctors in order to buy prescription medication online by claiming that they have qualified doctors on staff who can diagnose patients over the Internet. If you are told that you can get a diagnosis and a prescription by filling out a questionnaire online, chances are that you are dealing with an illegal operation.
Tips for Shopping at Legitimate Online Pharmacies
- Get to know the laws that apply to your type of medication.
- Avoid pharmacies that don’t ask for your prescription or other important information you would normally need to provide at a traditional pharmacy.
- Make sure that the online pharmacy you use employs a qualified pharmacist to check over orders and communicate with customers.
- Only shop at legitimate online and mail-order pharmacies that provide contact information in plain sight including their address and phone number.
- Use online tools and resources to find accredited licensed pharmacies that follow all legal and licensing requirements in their country.
If you need to get quality medication at an affordable price, go to eDrugSearch.com to freely compare drug prices from legitimate online pharmacies that you can trust, we guarantee it.
About this Angie’s List Expert: Cary Byrd is the president and founder of eDrugSearch.com. Based in San Antonio, eDrugSearch.com is a free cost comparison engine that helps consumers get safe access to affordable medications and advocates licensed online pharmacies as a widely accepted alternative.
While many consumers are interested in online pharmacies and how to safely buy prescription drugs online as a means of saving money, they are often concerned about whether they can trust the quality and safety of online medication.
eDrugSearch.com is the leading prescription drug guide for those who seek to safely buy prescription drugs online from licensed U.S. and Canadian pharmacies.
Go to eDrugSearch.com and compare prices today – it’s safe, easy and 100% FREE!
Or you can use our FREE directory to find a safe and licensed Canadian pharmacy online.
One of the biggest advantages of shopping for prescription drugs online is price transparency, which empowers the consumer to easily find the best price among available options.
As healthcare consumers well know, it is very difficult to comparison shop among brick-and-mortar pharmacies, because pharmacies typically don’t advertise their prices for prescription drugs (with the exception of the Wal-Mart generic drug program and similar programs, which generally include a list of covered drugs on the retailer’s Web site.)
Because it’s difficult to compare prices, particularly for expensive, brand-name drugs, most consumers buy at their corner drugstore, assuming the price isn’t much different from the next corner — or the other side of town. This simply isn’t the case. What’s worse, the disparities in pricing disproportionately affect poorer people.
According to a new study appearing in the Health Services Research journal:
Four of the most widely prescribed drugs in the United States can cost 15 percent more on average in the poorest neighborhoods of Florida, according to a study comparing retail pharmacy prices around the state. Part of the explanation is the high proportion of independent pharmacies in poor ZIP codes that charge the highest prices for Nexium, Advair Diskus, Plavix and azithromycin…
In contrast, the study shows that chain pharmacies are less expensive and less likely to vary their prices based on ZIP code. However, they are also less common in poorer areas. The authors noted that some independent pharmacies in poor neighborhoods did charge prices similar to chain pharmacies, but that issues such as health literacy, finances and transportation could limit consumers from shopping around…
Even small price increases have negative consequences, and two earlier studies found that the cost of prescription drugs discourages uninsured and poor people from filling their prescriptions. As a result of not controlling their health, they spend more time in emergency rooms.
The researcher behind the study concludes:
“Insuring the uninsured is a priority. However, uninsured people who pay retail prices for their medications and struggle with health care costs should not face higher prices because of where they live. Even though these variations are based on data from only one state, they deserve further investigation.”
Here’s a scary statistic:
Only a few hundred of the more than 11,000 Internet pharmacies advertising themselves as Canadian pharmacies are actually licensed by government authorities in Canada. The rest are frauds — often not located in Canada or licensed by any government entity.
Making matters worse, many of these fake pharmacies claim to be licensed — even cutting and pasting the seals from government agencies and accrediting organizations on their sites.
You can be assured that the Canadian pharmacies in our drug search engine are properly licensed and accredited. Our members also rate and review the pharmacies based on their experiences.
So don’t take any chances when you buy drugs online from Canada. Use eDrugSearch.com.
Think Progress reports that a new study from the Commonwealth Fund shows that the number of Americans forced to pay high medical expenses has grown dramatically since 2003:
The report found that 25 million working-age Americans were underinsured last year, up 16 percent from 2003. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, family premiums have jumped 78 percent since 2001, while wages have only risen 19 percent, barely keeping pace with inflation.
Add that 25 million underinsured to the approximately 47 million Americans with no health insurance at all, and we now have about 72 million who are struggling — and often one calamity away from losing everything.
When people are underinsured, high-priced prescription drugs are typically something that are out of reach. If you are among these 72 million Americans, we encourage you to use eDrugSearch.com to safely compare drug prices from one of our 21 licensed Canadian pharmacies to ensure you get the lowest price.
Here’s a disturbing news report on the growing problem of counterfeit prescription medications, often sold through organized crime syndicates in Third World countries:
How do you protect yourself against fake meds when you buy drugs online? Make sure the pharmacy you choose is properly licensed and accredited, like the Canadian pharmacies in the eDrugSearch.com system. All pharmacies in our database must pass a 10-point test to become part of our system.
If you choose to work with a pharmacy outside our system, please make sure to follow these safety tips.
Yeah, I know; I’ve written about this topic before — more than a few times. But I feel compelled to do so again. Frankly, I’m mad as heck and I can’t take it any more.
Just as there have been past hysterias blaming the Internet for sexual predators, pornography, political polarization, celebrity obsession, obesity (go outside and play!) and every other social malady facing our nation, now it seems the media is whipping itself into a frenzy over the dangers of Internet pharmacies for prescription drug abuse.
The latest blog post I flagged on this topic, “Internet Pharmacy Websites the New Drug Dealers,” referenced a sad tale on CNN.com headlined, “My husband died from online drugs.”
Don’t get me wrong. I know that buying drugs online can be dangerous; that’s precisely why I started eDrugSearch.com — to provide a safe haven, where online and mail-order pharmacies have been pre-screened for safety.
But let’s be clear here: in the case described on CNN, and in most cases of online prescription drug abuse, the person buying the drugs is doing so without a prescription. They know this is wrong, and for this reason, the are specifically seeking out rogue online pharmacies.
The problem of teenagers illegally purchasing drugs online has gotten a lot of attention — and rightly so. It’s a very real problem. But you can’t blame the Internet for this, any more than you can blame the highway for traffic accidents. And you can’t blame legitimate pharmacies, either.
In the same way that a prescription drug abuser can find a criminal (be it a friend or a stranger on a street corner) to sell them Vicodin, they can also find a criminal online to do the same. It’s no different.
So let’s focus our media attention — and law enforcement efforts — on stopping the criminal behavior, rather than tarring all Internet pharmacies with the same broad brush.
Now, why don’t we look a little more closely at the sources of the current controversy with Internet pharmacies. We have two main problems:
Problem 1. There are a lot of rogue pharmacies out there — as you can readily see every day when you check your e-mail and your spam folder is full of solicitations to buy Viagra and Xanax. Chasing these illegal operations down has been difficult for the FDA. It’s like policing anything over the Internet — very difficult.
Problem 2. Politics is getting in the way of addressing Problem 1.
How’s that? Let me explain –
Consumer reimportation of medications from Canada is heavily favored by the U.S. public. Obviously, a licensed Canadian pharmacy is just as safe as a licensed U.S. pharmacy. But unfortunately, because of the influence of Big Pharma, the Bush Administration and the FDA have done all they can to block reimportation.
Fortunately, they gave up on the idea of confiscating consumer purchases. But what they have done instead is confuse consumers — by giving the public the impression that ordering your Lipitor from a licensed Canadian pharmacy is somehow not as safe as buying it from a licensed U.S. pharmacy.
In their rhetoric, the FDA associates these legal, long-established, perfectly safe pharmacies with the rogue operations. If you ask me, it’s an intentional deception to appease Big Pharma. But whatever the motive, it’s factually inaccurate.
It also leads the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to list legitimate pharmacies alongside bad ones in its list of 79 online pharmacies to avoid, which it announced in a press release this week. The legit pharmacies are on the list simply because they are headquartered in Canada.
How sad that is, and what a mess for consumers.
eDrugSearch.com has stepped into the fray to try to clear up the confusion and offer a safe place for consumers. We suggest you use our list rather than the NABP’s, because — well — it’s actually rational. You know the pharmacies have been checked out. And that frees you to focus on saving money, which is why you’re shopping online in the first place.
I want to be very clear here: Buying prescription drugs online is a good thing! It’s more convenient. It’s more private. It’s less expensive because it gives you the necessary tools to comparison shop, both domestically and internationally.
As long as you’re shopping from pharmacies that you know are safe, and you’re not a criminal yourself, you’ll be fine online. More than fine.
Happy shopping.
Here are the top 25 prescription drug searches on eDrugSearch.com for the month of March, including searches for both medications and medical conditions, starting with the most popular search. eDrugSearch.com visitors have conducted more than five million searches since our launch in January 2007.
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