As the cost of prescription medication continues to rise in the United States, individuals and families on a tight budget are looking for other options. Many turn to Canadian pharmacies for their lower price tag and relaxed rules. However, before you can obtain your medication you must ask yourself, “Do you need a prescription for online Canadian pharmacies?”

Do you need a prescription for online Canadian pharmacies?
Individuals wondering do you need a prescription for online Canadian pharmacies are under a common misconception that they can legally order any drug online from Canadian pharmacies without a valid doctor’s prescription. This, however, is not true and any legitimate pharmacy must have a valid prescription before filling the prescription. However, legitimate Canadian pharmacies can legally sell medication that does not require a prescription. For example, Alli is a weight loss drug that can be purchased from an online Canadian pharmacy without a prescription because he is considered an over-the-counter medication.

Performing a search online will yield many online “pharmacies” offering medication without a valid prescription. These so-called “pharmacies” are either nothing more than a scam or are illegally selling medication without a prescription. These fraudulent pharmacies do not follow the strict laws and guidelines set by Canada, and there is no guarantee that the drugs you are purchasing are the ones you actually ordered.

Laws and Online Pharmacies
Purchasing prescription medication from a foreign country is not illegal in the United States of America and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not intercept packages containing prescription medication from Canada as long as the medication meets the following three criteria:

• Not a controlled substance
• For personal use only
• 90-day supply or less

However, it is illegal to purchase prescriptions that are not approved by the FDA even if they are approved by Health Canada.

Keep in mind that U.S. Customs randomly screens shipments coming into the U.S. to prevent bogus medications or drugs containing unapproved or dangerous ingredients from harming individuals. The FDA may make an exception in certain instances. For example, if the medication is used to treat a serious medical condition and said treatment isn’t available in the U.S. or the pharmacy prescribing the medication doesn’t produce the medication for U.S. consumers than the FDA may allow an exception.

Considerations
No matter where you decide to purchase your medication, always thoroughly research the online pharmacy before ordering. Furthermore, speak to the pharmacist at the online pharmacy to ensure you are receiving the exact medication that your doctor indicated on the prescription. When asking yourself “do you need a prescription for online Canadian pharmacies”, keep in mind that dealing with a pharmacy that doesn’t follow Canadian law you can be held accountable for obtaining the medications. Penalties can include fines and jail time.

Thankfully, www.DrugSearch.com is your source for obtaining affordable medications legally and safely from U.S. and Canadian pharmacies. The resources and tools available at eDrugSearch.com helps consumers make informed choices when ordering prescription medications online.

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. 

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Many rogue online pharmacies aren’t technically “no prescription” pharmacies. They have physicians, like Jennings, who write prescriptions for patients based on what are called “remote consultations”. While the standards of remote-consultation pharmacies are generally higher than those of pharmacies that require no prescription, they do not meet the safety standards that you deserve and should demand as a patient.

Sometime back, the Washington Post ran a background check on remote-consultation physicians and reported –

A Colorado doctor had a history of alcohol abuse. An Arkansas doctor was being treated for bipolar disorder and drug dependency. A Florida doctor had twice been cited for providing inadequate care to elderly patients, one of whom died. A Texas doctor was under investigation by the FBI for suspected Medicare fraud and later committed suicide. A California doctor was disciplined for operating under a fictitious name. A North Carolina doctor had held 22 jobs in five years

When it comes to prescription requirements, there are three kinds of online pharmacies — two of which are both illegal and potentially dangerous:

1. No Prescription Pharmacies. Some Web sites will sell you prescription drugs (including controlled substances) without a prescription, a practice that is illegal in the United States. As eDrugSearch.com warns:

Pharmacies in the U.S. that sell controlled substances must have a specific license to do so from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Furthermore, the Ryan Haight Act of 2008 requires patients to have an in-person exam before prescriptions for controlled substances can be filled through online and mail-order pharmacies. Yet there are pharmacies that fill orders for any type of drug without a prescription or even a consultation.

2. Remote-Consultation Pharmacies. Some consumers wish to purchase drugs without having to visit a physician in person — either for convenience, to save money, or (in some cases) to obtain medications they might otherwise be unable to obtain. Remote-consultation pharmacies prescribe medications based on the patient’s self-reported medical history. Explains eDrugSearch.com:

Online pharmacies that conduct remote consultations can be equally safe and reliable, especially for milder, lifestyle medications. Individuals submit relevant medical information, and a physician associated with the pharmacy reviews it to determine whether or not a prescription is appropriate. If so, the pharmacy fills the order. U.S. federal law forbids prescriptions for addictive, controlled substances through remote consultation. Additionally, remote prescriptions are entirely illegal in some states while others allow them only for non-controlled drugs. It’s important to know local laws before choosing this type of pharmacy.

3. Pharmacies Licensed by the U.S. or Canadian Government. Licensed online pharmacies require you to provide an original prescription, obtained from an in-person meeting with your physician. Licensed online pharmacies include major national chains, neighborhood pharmacies, and mail-order fulfillment centers in the United States and Canada.

The eDrugSearch.com database only includes licensed pharmacies that require an original doctor’s prescription, based on an in-person consultation. Click here to read our handy guide: Everything You Need to Know About Online and Mail-Order Pharmacies

The post Online pharmacy no prescription Doc busted for signing up to 100,000 illegal online prescriptions appeared first on eDrugSearch Blog.

As readers of this blog know, we sometimes grow weary of defending legitimate online and mail-order pharmacies against those uninformed (and/or Big Pharma-funded) voices who enjoying tarring all online pharmacies with the same broad brush.

Yes, we know there is a big problem with rogue online pharmacies. That’s why we created eDrugSearch.com — to create a place you could come to buy medications from pharmacies that are all properly licensed by the Canadian government.

Did you know that, for all the hyperventilating about the safety of online pharmacies, there is not a single reported case of an American citizen receiving adulterated, impure or improper medications from a licensed Canadian pharmacy? It’s true — not one.

Wal-Mart’s track record isn’t as good.

You may recall that last year, a Wal-Mart pharmacist’s error sent a teenager into a coma.

And last week, we received some unexpected (in fact, downright bizarre) insight into how Wal-Mart cuts corners on the prices its pharmacies charge.

According to the Huffington Post:

ABC 4 News in Cedar City, Utah—a town of roughly 28,000 people—reported that a routine traffic stop of three men led to a bizarre tale of prescription narcotics, illegal couriers, a Las Vegas drug supplier, and the world’s largest retailer.

Diego Jimenez, Maricio Jimenez, and Kyle Gutierrez are being held in a jail in Iron County while local authorities sift through their odd story. Police pulled over their car as it was traveling north on Route 15 just south of 100 miles per hour. The men claim they were hired to deliver prescription drugs to at least three Wal-Mart stores, including the superstore on South Providence Drive in Cedar City, Utah, which has an in-store pharmacy. The three men reportedly had already been to the Wal-Mart supercenter in St. George, Utah, which is south of Cedar City on Route 15, and the Wal-Mart superstore on Route 15 further south in Mesquite, Nevada, on the border with Arizona.

While searching the car, police found marijuana paraphernalia, two boxes of prescription narcotics, and a retail invoice for $30,000. Two of the three men in the car admitted to being illegal aliens. The men claimed they had been retained by a company called Nevada Courier, given $150 and a tank of gas to “drive these medications down here and drop them off.”

The three suspects arrested are all reportedly from Las Vegas. The police verified their story by checking with the retailer. “I called Wal-Mart,” one police spokesman told ABC news, “and they said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late.”…

The ABC piece added: “Sheriffs say what’s frightening here is the safety of Wal-Mart’s pharmacy customers.”

You can pick your jaw up off the floor now. It’s all true.

Al Norman, who wrote the Huffington Post article, sums it up this way –

Wal-Mart has been in the pharmacy business since 1978, and has over 4,264 pharmacy locations in the U.S. alone. The company boasts of its high-tech software system that gives its pharmacists access to a “huge database” across the country. Yet a company with this sophistication is obtaining narcotics from a carload of illegal “couriers” barreling up Route 15 at 96 miles per hour.

When I read the piece, I couldn’t help but think, “Can you imagine if a story like this broke in the media involving a Canadian online pharmacy?”

And yet for Wal-Mart, it’s barely a blip on the radar.

The post What’s safer — online pharmacies or Wal-Mart? appeared first on eDrugSearch Blog.

Got this one in the inbox today. It just screams credibility, doesn’t it?

I’m sure we don’t need to remind our readers of this, but just in case a new visitor doesn’t already know this: NEVER RESPOND TO A SPAM SOLICATION OF ANY KIND OVER THE INTERNET — ESPECIALLY FROM AN ONLINE PHARMACY! You’re putting both your money and health at risk if you do.

Happy holidays, everyone.

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It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience for us; we’ve met a lot of great people and made a lot of good friends. We hope along the way that we’ve shed an informative light on the world of online pharmacies — helping you to distinguish good pharmacies from bad ones so you won’t be scammed (or worse) by a rogue operation.

We also hope we’ve helped you to understand the political backdrop behind some of the confusing and contradictory behaviors of the U.S. government when it comes to Canadian pharmacies. And finally, we hope we’ve provided you with practical advice that has helped you to save money on your own drug purchases.

Thanks for making this an unforgettable experience for us. As for the future: We’ll keep writing as long as you keep reading!

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In the face of Congress’ apparent bumbling of the $700 billion financial bailout package, I’m glad to know that something useful can still emerge from the lawmaking process.

H.R. 6353 is named for Ryan Haight (pictured), who died of an overdose of Vicodin after ordering the pills over the Internet without a prescription. (You can read more about Ryan here.)

You can read the full text of the legislation here; here’s a summary of its provisions:

• Amends the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit the delivery, distribution, or dispensing of controlled substances over the Internet without a valid prescription. Exempts telemedicine practitioners.
• Defines “valid prescription” as a prescription that is issued for a legitimate purpose by a practitioner who has conducted at least one in-person medical evaluation of the patient.
• Adds definitions to the Controlled Substances Act relating to online pharmacies and the issuance of prescriptions over the Internet.
  Imposes registration and reporting requirements on online pharmacies.
• Authorizes the Attorney General to issue a special registration under this Act for telemedicine practitioners.
• Increases criminal penalties involving controlled substances in Schedules II, IV, and V of the Controlled Substances Act.
• Authorizes states to apply for injunctions or obtain damages and other civil remedies against online pharmacies that are deemed a threat to state residents.

Keep in mind that licensed Canadian pharmacies do not ship controlled substances into the U.S., so this act applies to rogue pharmacies, both in the U.S. and worldwide. We applaud the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act — because the more that is done to protect Americans against rogue pharmacies, the more they will look to the many benefits that legitimate online pharmacies have to offer.

The post Update on the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 appeared first on eDrugSearch Blog.

When you’re on the right side of an argument, people with a vested interest in defeating you will try almost anything to win. So it is with the big-money opponents of Canadian drug reimportation, who have been pulling out all the stops to convince Americans that buying medications from properly licensed Canadian pharmacies is unsafe.

The No.1 tactic that Big Pharma-backed groups are currently using is to employ clever rhetoric to lump licensed Canadian pharmacies in with dangerous rogue pharmacies — criminal organizations that operate in the shadows.

We’ve obviously written on this topic before, but over the weekend it hit close to home — as John Horton, former Bush White House aide and founder of a Web site called LegitScript — called into question the practices of one of our member pharmacies, CanadaDrugs.com. You can see Horton’s charges in the comments here.

Horton specifically states that CanadaDrugs.com “isn’t getting its drugs from Canada, but in fact from Turkey, which is a transshipment point for counterfeit or adulterated drugs.”

Remember what I was saying about clever rhetoric? This is a brilliant example of it, because it insinuates that CanadaDrugs.com is doing something wrong — without a shred of evidence to support this insinuation.

Here are the facts, as per CanadaDrugs.com:

• CanadaDrugs.com operates a fully licensed Canadian pharmacy.
• CanadaDrugs.com is a marketing portal that allows consumers to place orders with licensed dispensaries around the world. When you view the detail for a product page, it clearly states which dispensary will be filling the order for that particular package.
• CanadaDrugs.com works with companies like U.K. Pharmacy Services, which is based (and licensed) in the U.K. to fill orders for medications based in the European Union.
• U.K. Pharmacy Services dispenses medications under U.K. pharmaceutical laws and regulations that oversee the safety and efficacy of the dispensing practices and products sold to consumers. Turkish medications are dispensed in some cases, as is consistent with U.K. pharmaceutical law and in keeping with the standards of practice for U.K. pharmacies. This has been a common practice in the U.K. for many years, and is regulated by the British government.
• PharmacyChecker ensures that all CanadaDrugs.com dispensaries are duly licensed in their respective jurisdictions and that CanadaDrugs.com follows guidelines to ensure the safety of online consumers purchasing pharmaceutical products.

In summary: You have nothing to fear from CanadaDrugs.com, according to PharmacyChecker and according to the Canadian government.

John Horton also mentions the case of RxNorth, which is an odd one. My understanding is that RxNorth was never charged with a single crime and that the medication lot number that supposedly included counterfeit drugs was never identified by the FDA. RxNorth was never shut down, either. In fact, it was sold to CanadaDrugs.com.

Andrew Strempler, the founder of RxNorth and a licensed pharmacist, has certainly never hidden in the shadows, either. He’s been a public figure for years, profiled in the New York Times, Fortune and the Wall Street Journal. He’s easy to find if the authorities have evidence that he’s done something wrong; you can track him down through his LinkedIn profile or his blog if you’d like.

One final point: John Horton strongly suggests that Canadian authorities don’t particularly care whether the drugs its pharmacies ship to U.S. residents are safe or not. In other words, the licensing process that Canadian provincial governments use to approve and regulate online pharmacies is a sham.

Does anyone buy this argument? If so, remember: There is not, to my knowledge, a single documented instance of a U.S. consumer being harmed by the wrong drug, or an adulterated drug, shipped by a properly licensed Canadian pharmacy. This is pretty amazing — especially when you consider that even U.S. pharmacies make mistakes from time to time.

The post How CanadaDrugs.com dispenses prescription drugs 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.

Oh boy — here we go again.

Hey, I know there are a lot of rogue pharmacies out there. That’s why I started eDrugSearch.com — to help people avoid rogue online pharmacies. But there are licensed, legitimate online pharmacies out there, too — and it’s not fair to consumers to scare them away from the Internet as an avenue for purchasing prescription drugs.

If you know what you’re doing, it’s relatively easy to be safe when you buy prescription drugs online. Here are two ways:

1. Use eDrugSearch.com, which only permits prescreened, licensed online and mail-order pharmacies in its database.
2. If you would rather search on your own, follow these five tips.

The main problem I have with the Forbes piece is that it suggests that virtually all online pharmacies don’t require prescriptions, sell counterfeit medications, and send you spam e-mails. Then it suggests that these same pharmacies are spending lots of money in search marketing and other forms of advertising on the Web. Both of these assertions are patently false.

For an online pharmacy to advertise through Google AdWords, for example, it must meet specific criteria that includes verification of its licensing by PharmacyChecker. Online pharmacies that send spam e-mails and distribute counterfeit medications need not apply.

The article is another bit of alarmism compliments (directly or indirectly) of Big Pharma’s PR machine — which is fighting tooth and nail against both access to Canadian pharmacy drugs by U.S. consumers and the preferred means of this access, the Internet.

Don’t believe the hype.

The post Forbes throws out the baby with the bath water appeared first on eDrugSearch Blog.

1. Teens (aged 12 to 17) indicated, for the first time, that it is easier to acquire “prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin or Ritalin, without a prescription” than it is to buy beer.

2. While Internet pharmacies have been widely blamed for the increase in prescription drug abuse, few of the teens surveyed say that the drug abusers acquire their drugs from online pharmacies.

That’s right. Here’s what CASA’s press release says:

When teens who know prescription drug abusers were asked where those kids get their drugs:

• 31 percent said from friends or classmates;
• 34 percent said from home, parents or the medicine cabinet;
• 16 percent said other;
• Nine percent said from a drug dealer

You may recall that just last month, CASA issued a study warning that 85 percent of online pharmacies do not require a prescription. Clearly, the organization is strongly opposed (as we are) to rogue online pharmacies.

But I think it’s telling here that — even with all the negative media attention that online pharmacies are receiving — these kids didn’t say, “We buy our OxyContin online.” They said they’re sneaking pills from their parents’ medicine cabinets — or their friends’ parents’ medicine cabinets.

This says to me that we need to look beyond the easy scapegoat of online and mail-order pharmacies in getting to the root of the problem of teen prescription drug abuse.

Could it be that the billions of dollars drug companies have spent to advertise, promote and sell their drugs have resulted in a flood of pills on the market?

Could it be that we’re taught by wall-to-wall direct-to-consumer advertising today that there’s “a pill for every ill”?

In this environment, isn’t it reasonable for teens to seek out the much-hyped prescription drugs they keep hearing about?

Let me give you one example. Viagra is a very popular drug among young men, including even teens, who are not impotent but believe that Viagra will improve their sexual performance. Do you think — for even a minute — that Viagra abuse would be as severe if Pfizer had not spent millions of dollars shouting “Viva Viagra” from every rooftop in America?

If you do, you’re kidding yourself. And if you think the problem of teen prescription drug abuse will be solved by focusing on Internet pharmacies rather than the larger issues at work, you’re also kidding yourself.

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