An excerpt from the story:

Among teens and young adults 12 to 25, one-third of those who use illicit drugs say they recently have abused prescription drugs — including painkillers, tranquilizers and stimulants. Among kids 12 to 17, 3.3% had abused prescription psychotherapeutic drugs in the last month. Among 17- to 25-year-olds, 6% had abused prescription drugs in the last month…

Studies suggest that for the current generation, as for past drug users, efforts to thwart distribution of some drugs shift thrill-seekers to others that are easier to score — a dynamic that helps explain the move toward prescription drugs…

More than half who reported they had recently taken prescription drugs for nonmedical uses said they got the drugs from a friend or relative for free, and almost 20% got them from a physician. About 1 in 10 who took prescription pain relievers said they bought or stole them from a friend or relative.

Drug enforcement officials have long noted that teens and young adults widely trade, sell and steal stimulant medications, heavily prescribed among student populations to treat symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Fewer than 5% told interviewers that they had had to resort to a drug-dealing stranger to acquire prescription drugs, or even to log onto an Internet site selling prescription drugs.

The post Where does teen prescription drug abuse start? The parents’ medicine cabinet appeared first on eDrugSearch Blog.

While reading Benjamin Gluck’s Internet Pharmacy Law blog, I came across a reference to an “Internet pharmacy verification and information service” I hadn’t yet heard of: LegitScript.

I like the professed mission of LegitScript: to improve online pharmacy safety by offering a database that allows consumers to enter a pharmacy’s name and find out whether it’s legitimate or not. LegitScript apparently intends to make money by providing a verification seal to online pharmacies that meet its standards. I say “apparently” because LegitScript verification is currently provided free of charge.

All of which sounds fine — until you look a little closer.

You see, LegitScript claims ALL Canadian pharmacies are unsafe. Even the most established, reputable pharmacies — licensed and inspected by the Canadian government — get classified as rogue online pharmacies by LegitScript.

Is this because these pharmacies are actually unsafe? Of course not. Consumer Reports — not exactly a rogue organization — advises consumers to buy from Canadian pharmacies. And FDA officials cannot identify a single American injured as a result of drugs purchased from licensed Canadian pharmacies.

So what’s this nonsense about? And more pointedly, what is LegitScript really about?

Well, just doing a little Googling, I found out a few things about LegitScript.

I discovered that its founder, John Horton, was a White House aide for George W. Bush from 2002 to 2007, serving in the office of National Drug Control Policy. I learned that Horton had given money to the 2008 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the candidate most strongly in the corner of Big Pharma in its fight against Canadian drug reimportation. The company is based in the Washington, D.C., area, home of the Big Pharma lobby. All of which makes me wonder who’s funding LegitScript — and why.

As we’ve reported here before, Big Pharma and its proxies, like the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, have dramatically stepped up their disinformation campaign against Canadian drugs in recent months.

Why now? Clearly, it’s because both John McCain and Barack Obama have promised to legalize consumer purchases of Canadian drugs. With public support for drug reimportation at 80 percent, how can you blame them?

So Big Pharma has got to spread enough nonsense — scare enough people — to bring those poll numbers down. That way, Big Pharma’s water-carriers in Congress can feel comfortable blocking any proposed reimportation legislation.

Who knows? Maybe LegitScript’s ambition is to displace PharmacyChecker as the verification system that Google uses to vet pharmacies for its ad network. If LegitScript were successful in doing this, no Canadian pharmacies would be allowed to advertise through Google — a major victory for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.

I’m speculating here, of course. But I’m wondering if eDrugSearch.com, PharmacyChecker, RxRights, CIPA, MIPA, IMPAC, Consumer Reports, and others who support the right of Americans to purchase drugs from safe and licensed Canadian pharmacies should band together to challenge this disinformation campaign.

What say you, friends?

Here are some other groups that support personal drug importation from licensed Canadian pharmacies:

• American Association of Health Freedom
• American Academy of Family Physicians
• National Federation of Independent Business
• National Retiree Legislative Network
• National Education Association
• National Farmers Union
• Telephone Pioneer Family Campers

Source: www.govtrack.us

The post Are ALL Canadian Pharmacies “Rogue” Online Pharmacies? LegitScript Thinks So. appeared first on eDrugSearch Blog.

Medical Web Services, an Internet pharmacy operation that ran 70 illegal internet pharmacy Web sites, was busted this week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa — and the feds are seeking $41 million in proceeds from the alleged rogue internet pharmacy operation.

What were these Web sites doing illegally? Allegedly, they were distributing Schedule III and Schedule IV substances via online questionnaires. According to the indictment, which named six participants in the operation:

Internet customers logged onto one of the domain names owned, operated, hosted, or linked to Medical Web Services and placed orders for prescription drugs. The customers completed a short health history questionnaire and provided credit card payment information. The customers’ identities were not verified, nor were customers required to submit any medical records, as part of the ordering process. . . . The doctors approved the prescription drug orders without examining any of the customers, and in the vast majority of cases, without reviewing any medical records.

Read the AP story and the U.S. Department of Justice press release.

You can also find more information on the case at attorney Benjamin Gluck’s Internet Pharmacy Law blog.

And to find a legitimate Internet pharmacy, go here.

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